Michelangelo Raimondo
PhD student at the University of Bologna and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, his research focuses on electric machines and their thermal management. His academic and professional background is characterized by a strong integration between research and industry, with experience in the automotive sector and collaborations with leading industrial and academic partners at the international level.
Education
He received his Master's Degree in Advanced Automotive Engineering – Advanced Powertrain from the Motorvehicle University of Emilia-Romagna (MUNER) in 2023 and his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bari in 2020.
Academic Career and Research Activities
Since November 2023, he has been a PhD student at the University of Bologna and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, within the Automotive Engineering for Intelligent Mobility (AEIM) PhD programme. His research focuses on the thermal management of electric machines, with particular emphasis on the design and optimization of cooling systems for both radial-flux and axial-flux machines. His research activities include the investigation of both conventional solutions, such as water jackets, and more advanced techniques, including direct oil cooling. He also develops and applies different simulation methodologies, including analytical models and CFD simulations based on both the traditional Finite Volume Method (FVM) and Lagrangian approaches.
He was involved in SPOKE 13, a project funded through the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and developed in collaboration with academic and industrial partners. Within the project, he was responsible for the design of the cooling system for the electric motor under development.
In 2025, he carried out a research period at ABB Corporate Research in Västerås, Sweden, as part of the collaboration between the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and ABB developed within the European-funded DORNA project. His research focused on the development of an innovative passive cooling solution for the rotor of both permanent magnet and wound-rotor electric machines.
Industrial Experience
From July 2022 to February 2023, he worked at Polestar in Gothenburg, Sweden, as a CAE Engineer – CFD within the Electric Drive Unit Design department. His work focused on the design of direct oil cooling systems for traction electric motors and the development of fast-design methodologies for the evaluation of their thermal performance.
He was responsible for the development and comparison of different design solutions through CFD analyses, as well as for the design of prototypes for simulation validation and model correlation. He also collaborated with EnginSoft on the validation and tuning of Particleworks and supported the development of an application for the fast thermal analysis of electric motors based on COMSOL.
Scientific Activities
He is the author and co-author of scientific publications in the field of electric machines and thermal management, presented at international conferences including IEEE IEMDC, IEEE WEMDCD, and IEEE ICEM.
He is also a co-inventor of a patent concerning the development of a cooling-medium distribution device for an electric motor, aimed at improving the performance of oil-cooling systems.
Scientific Memberships
He has been an IEEE Student Member since 2020.
