Texas Instruments names The Ohio State University’s Aaron Bonnell-Kangas winner of TI Innovation Challenge 2014

Texas Instruments Incorporated named Aaron Bonnell-Kangas from The Ohio State University the overall winner of the seventh annual TI Innovation Challenge, a contest that showcases the inventive projects of today’s aspiring engineers. Bonnell-Kangas’ winning project was an improved battery interface module for the Buckeye Current team's electric motorcycle.

The winning design featured seven TI components in its construction including: a battery pack protector, a performance microcontroller, a controller area network transceiver, a step-down voltage regulator, a digital isolator and two logic gates. The design, a 36-cell-capable lithium-ion battery monitoring circuit, was designed to be installed on the RW-2x, the second electric road racing motorcycle designed and built by Ohio State's Buckeye Current student team. Bonnell-Kangas used TI parts to improve the power efficiency and battery management capabilities from the previous battery management module. 

"I'm thrilled at this result," said Bonnell-Kangas, "and so happy that the winning project came from Buckeye Current. Every student on the team is doing incredible things, and my time on the team and at the Center for Automotive Research has defined my experience at Ohio State."

During the 2013-14 school year, 120 accredited engineering colleges and universities from the United States, Canada and Mexico participated in the TI Innovation Challenge, which attracted 810 participants. This year, the top three finalist teams presented their projects to Rich Templeton, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Texas Instruments, during the two-day contest finals in Dallas.

“Texas Instruments’ Innovation Challenge brings together hundreds of bright minds and puts their skills to the test to tackle a real-world problem,” said Steve Lyle, director, engineering workforce development and university marketing for Texas Instruments. “Aaron’s project showed determination and creativity to improve upon an already impressive design. I’m thrilled to see that these young engineers aren’t afraid of design challenges and I wish them well in their future endeavors.”

TI Innovation Challenge top three winners

Cash prizes were awarded to the top three winners: $10,000 for first place, $7,500 for second place and $5,000 for third. Bonnell-Kangas' winning project - Battery Interface Module - is detailed here. The second and third place awards went to Rice University (Motion Path Analysis Tool for Cerebral Palsy Patients) and University of Florida (Universal Interface Cube), respectively.

 

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About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world's brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping more than 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com.