80 million output value driven by motor research

One component makes the giant wheel of global industrial upgrading keep turning. This component is the motor drive hidden in various machines. There is a saying in the industry: "The motor drives the world, but the motor driver drives the motor." This shows the importance of the motor driver for the improvement of mechanical functions.

Yen-Shin Lai , Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering Department of Taipei University of Technology, who won the 2nd National Industry-University Master Award, is one of the key figures in controlling the development of motor drives. After more than 30 years of teaching and research work, Yen-Shin Lai has always believed: "In the technical system, Academic research should be close to the needs of the industry, and the main orientation should be to solve industrial problems.” Spread out the map, Yen-Shin Lai cooperates with manufacturers in Taiwan, Japan, the United States, etc., including power electronics such as Chicony Power Technology, TECO Electric & Machinery Corporation, Yungtay Engineering Ltd, Shihlin Electric, etc. power Electronics Factory has brought more than 80 million Taiwan dollars in industry-university cooperation benefits to Taipei Tech in the past 10 years.

And behind this process of solving corporate problems, Yen-Shin Lai has accumulated nearly 50 invention patents related to motor drive and power converter control in the past ten years, of which more than 30 have been proposed by the industry. In addition, Yen-Shin Lai ’s contribution to social development is to allow consumers to buy quieter, more energy-saving, and higher-efficiency frequency conversion and power supply equipment. The secret of this is the motor driver and power converter technology that he constantly assists the industry to improve related products.

Parents work hard to cultivate and build a solid foundation

From a farm children in Chiayi to a university professor and a master of industry and academia, this process is not easy. Yen-Shin Lai ’s path to school was not smooth. Due to the current economic pressure, he always wanted to work quickly to make money, so it was three times into the campus and three times out of the campus before finally getting a doctorate.

Speaking of studying, Yen-Shin Lai said that he thanked his parents for their cultivation. When he was a child, his family was poor. His parents used farming to grow sugarcane and rice to make a living. As the children of farmers, Yen-Shin Lai naturally had to pick up a hoe to help farming after school. Seeing that Yen-Shin Lai is a studing material, his father has high expectations for him. Although his father never said to him personally, he often heard from others: "Your father think highly of you very much (In Taiwanese)."

His parents’ hope their children will have a bright future, so turned into practical actions. When Yen-Shin Lai was in the second grade of junior high school, his parents decided to spend a whole year’s sugarcane harvest money to help him transfer to a famous private junior high school in Tainan. Yen-Shin Lai recalled this past and couldn't help laughing and said: "Students go to study there, and they have to have very thick skins, because the "beating" there is famous. "

Sure enough, his parents’ vision was right. When he graduated from junior high school, Yen-Shin Lai was admitted to Tainan No. 1 High School and Taipei Institute of Technology at the same time. In order to quickly finish his studies and work to make money, he later chose to study electrical engineering at Taipei Institute of Technology. But as soon as he entered the junior college, Yen-Shin Lai faced a shocking education. Firstly, electrical machinery was a new field of knowledge, and secondly, the teacher issued a list of English original texts. He could only learn by studying hard.

Step by step, after graduating from the fifth junior college, Yen-Shin Lai passed the college entrance examination and was transferred to the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Communications and the BES Engineering of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Just when life is getting stable, Yen-Shin Lai's seemingly steady appearance hides a heart that pursues change and challenges, "I feel that a life that is too stable is not in line with my personality, and I want to make another breakthrough!" he said and laughed.

So he decided to go back to the campus for further studies, and moved to another major, to apply for the Institute of Electronic Engineering of Taiwan Institute of Technology (now National Taiwan University of Science and Technology). During this process, he encountered two difficulties. One was that the fifth-year junior college student had to directly challenge the graduate school, and the other was that he had to switch from electrical engineering to electronic engineering. Even though there were many difficulties, Yen-Shin Lai worked hard to overcome difficulties with his strong will, and fully exerted the pragmatic and fighting spirit of peasant children.

After obtaining a master's degree, Yen-Shin Lai first returned to his alma mater, Taipei Institute of Technology, as a lecturer. Since then, he has started his teaching and research path. This is also the beginning of his dedication to the major of power electronics. Not only did he get interested in research, but he also felt that his knowledge was still insufficient, so he decided to challenge again and went to Bristol University to study for a doctorate at the University of Bristol.

At that time, Yen-Shin Lai was 30 years old, married with two children, and his wife was still pregnant. Even so, he did not have the heart to retreat, and resolutely took the whole family on the plane and flew to the UK. He said with a smile: "At that time we, the family of five boarded the plane together, the flight attendant couldn't help but say, "It reminds me of how my parents took us to Taiwan." Sure enough, their life in the UK was quite difficult. Fortunately, the advisor Prof. S. R. Bowes assisted in applying for scholarships to get through the difficulties

Lay a solid academic spirit

In the course of studying, Yen-Shin Lai's consistent concept is to study pragmatically. The first time he was studying at Taipei Technical College, the intern teachers at that time, including Vice President Jong-Chin Shen and the founder of Super Micro Computer Charles Liang, etc., all attached great importance to the spirit of practice, and the teachers in the practice class would also require students to wind induction motors by themselves. It is hoped that through hands-on practice, students will have a more solid academic foundation.

During his further studies in the UK, Yen-Shin Lai not only established his strength in power electronics research, but also won the IEE Best Paper Award of the British Journal - Johns Hopkinson Award, which also made him realize the importance of industry-university cooperation. When he walked into the University of Bristol, he saw that the school workshop was equipped with lathe equipment, and students had to learn to construct devices from scratch, which further consolidated his educational philosophy of "emphasizing both thinking and practice", "so that students can know why, know how to do."

He remembers that when he led the students to measure the motor control signal, there was a noise, and the students didn't pay attention to it, but he didn't miss any details. His intuition was abnormal, so he conducted more in-depth research, and because of this, he continued to be famous in the world. Two important papers were published in IEEE journals, "It can be seen that knowledge is everywhere, the point is whether you can see what the real problem is?"

It took only 3 years to obtain a doctorate, and Yen-Shin Lai did not stop for a moment. He immediately returned to Taipei Tech to teach until now. Over the past 32 years, Yen-Shin Lai has created many outstanding records: he is the first teacher of Taipei Tech to win the Outstanding Research Award of the Ministry of Science and Technology; he is also the first domestically born and bred teacher in the field of motor control and power electronics to be elected as a member of the International Association of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Fellow(IEEE Fellow).

In addition to his personal achievements, Yen-Shin Lai also brought abundant opportunities for industry-university cooperation to Taipei Tech. He has established a special class for power electronics industry-university masters for more than 10 years, and has cultivated more than 150 master talents. Regarding this, he also bluntly said: "None of my students stayed in school as teachers, and all contributed to the industry."

From the academic ivory tower to the industrial world, Yen-Shin Lai has solved countless industrial problems through continuous experimentation. He is definitely a model for teachers, students, schools, and industries to create a win-win situation.

Youtube Link：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP-VE1L0hoE
Chinese version PDF Link：https://masteraward.moe.edu.tw/userdata/upload/file/1106-2.pdf