John Tysman Email Address

Controls Engineer H40 and 50 Hybrid System

Allison Transmission (NYSE: ALSN) is the world's largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles and is a leader in hybrid-propulsion systems for city buses.

I spent my formative years learning engineering at Michigan State University where I was involved in Formula SAE (a competition involving the design, fabrication, testing, and racing of a small open wheeled race car). While participating in FSAE, I was team lead for driveline components for two years and wheels/hubs/uprights for 1 years. Graduating in the middle of the great recession, I was offered a job in controls engineering at Allison Transmission in Indianapolis. The work here involved developing the software in the embedded controller for a hybrid drive unit that Allison sold to transit bus manufacturers (paired with a Cummins diesel engine). Much of the work involved integrating Allison's hybrid system with new Cummins engines as new engines were developed. In 2013(?) I began taking graduate classes at IUPUI for a masters degree in mechanical engineering. During this time, I was able to continue to work for Allison part-time through a contract house. After I received my degree I returned to Allison full time but leaving the controls department to work as a project engineer doing real mechanical design work. Initially, I worked in a small group of five design engineers during the initial launch of a 10-speed countershaft transmission for class-8 trucks. Two of the biggest things I focused on were an NVH issue during clutch applies and a premature tapered bearing wear issue. Plausible root causes were discovered for both, but the product was terminated before either could be proven out. After the 10-speed project, the same team was directed to develop new hardware for the hybrid product for which I had previously developed controls. The new hardware was to be a disconnect clutch which decoupled the diesel engine from the transmission, enabling efficient engine start/stop and electric propulsion mode. Myself, with our team developed this clutch system from concept, through prototype, to demonstration vehicle, to production. Myself, with this same team created a concept layout for a longitudinally mounted three-speed transmission powered by an electric motor for class-8 trucks. In the last year before I resigned, I worked with the same team on some support/adaptation components for a transverse e-axle product. In that role I specifically worked on a few covers and plugs which allowed removal of certain components to de-feature (save cost) of the axle. I also worked on electric motor cooling designs.