Written By: Anna Ying (Communications Manager), Jennifer Lin (Communications member)
With multiple sponsors supporting our Battery Workforce Challenge journey, today we are highlighting two key partners: Eaton and Gamma Technologies. Their support plays an important role in how we integrate our hardware and approach battery system simulation and optimization.
As a global leader in power management, Eaton contributes directly to our high voltage architecture. Their hardware components, including breakers and fuses, are integrated directly into our battery system, forming a strong foundation for safety and dependable performance.
Kavish Wadehra, McMaster University undergraduate and team’s Battery Hardware Team Manager, reflects on Eaton’s impact on our integration process: “We use Eaton’s reliable power management and protection products in our battery system, which have supported our integration and testing efforts. We are especially grateful to the Eaton team for their continued guidance and support throughout the project.”
Equally important to our hardware development is the ability to analyze, simulate, and validate our system before physical testing begins. Gamma Technologies plays a key role in this stage of our project by supporting us through regular check in meetings and technical discussions with their team, we have received valuable guidance that has helped refine our modeling approach and strengthen our understanding of the battery behaviors. Using GT-SUITE, our team models battery behavior under different load conditions, evaluates cooling strategies, and validates assumptions prior to hardware developments.
For Mahir Abdul Nasar, McMaster University & Mohawk College undergraduate and the team’s Vehicle and System Integration Team Manager, “ GT-SUITE has significantly influenced how the team approaches battery thermal management. The ability to simulate our designs and validate them with thermal chamber tests is invaluable,” he said. “GT-SUITE allows us to refine our approach in a fraction of the time other software takes, ensuring our models align with experimental data. If the simulation results do not match reality, we know something needs adjusting.”
Together, Eaton and Gamma Technologies support two essential aspects of our project: physical integration and analytical validation. We are grateful for being able to work alongside sponsors who invest not only in technology, but also in student development. Through collaboration, mentorship, and access to industry standard tools, Eaton and Gamma Technologies have helped make this competition a meaningful step in student’s professional growth.
