
Mr. Swart specializes in battery-powered products, in particular: failure analysis, design of battery systems, state of the art battery power system architectures, charging systems, and power conversion solutions. Mr. Swart’s expertise includes safety performance evaluations. He also consults on conventional, hybrid, and electrically powered vehicles, power electronics systems, and the evaluation of new battery chemistry specifications and safety assessment solutions.
Mr. Swart has been responsible for inspecting, evaluating, and managing failure analysis techniques and processes, and working with the clients’ technical team members and management to analyze existing processes, identify possible disconnects, and propose and monitor the implementation of processes to improve the clients’ existing failure analysis processes.
Mr. Swart has experience with the design and implementation of test systems. He has developed an automated test system with data acquisition capabilities, to non-destructively monitor all the external fault indicators of a desktop computer, while power is repeatedly cycled. He developed and built an automated multi electrochemical cell charger simulator and cycler, an automated power supply safety performance tester, and techniques using Infra Red (IR) thermography as a failure analysis tool in circuit board defect identification.
Prior to joining Exponent, Mr. Swart was a Lecturer at Richtek College in South Africa and elected to serve as member of the College Executive Council. He spent two years in research and development of renewable energy systems in South Africa and Germany, and participated in a European Union hydro-energy project. He has also held various technical positions at Dell in the USA, the Cape Technikon, M. Price and Associates, and Nasionale Pers in South Africa.

Arora A, Medora N, Swart J. Failures of electrical/electronic components: Selected case studies. IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering, Longmont, CO, 2007.
Swart J, Edmonds J, Arora A, Dalal S. Case studies of electrical motor and generator failures. Failures 2007, South Africa, 2007.
Swart J, Arora A, Megerle M, Nilsson S. Methods for measuring the mechanical safety vent pressure of lithium ion cells. IEEE Symposium on Product Safety and Compliance Engineering, Irvine, CA, 2006.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S, Ross B. Case studies of electrical component failures. Failures 2006, South Africa, 2006.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S. Characterizing the performance of battery chemistries used to power a single-person vehicle. 6th International Advanced Automotive Battery (and Ultracapacitor) Conference, Baltimore, MD, 2006.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S, Xu Y. Going beyond industry standards in critically evaluating lithium-ion batteries. Advancements in Battery Charging, Monitoring and Testing, Vancouver, Canada, 2005.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S, Xu Y. Characterizing the vent operation of lithium-ion cells and battery packs. 5th International Advanced Automotive Battery (and Ultracapacitor) Conference, Hawaii, 2005.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S, Xu Y. Lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles: A safety perspective. 5th International Advanced Automotive Battery (and Ultracapacitor) Conference, Hawaii, 2005.
Swart J, Wu J, Zumwalt R, Birdsley J. Case studies of IR based rapid PC motherboard failure analysis. ISTFA, Phoenix, AZ, 2002.
Posters and Presentations
Dalal S, Swart J. Constraint based product component safety evaluation. IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering, Longmont, CO, 2007.
Arora A, Swart J. Design review of a lithium-ion battery powered product. IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering, Longmont, CO, 2007.
BenKinney M, Arora A, Swart J. the influence of regulatory changes on unique product designs. IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering, Longmont, CO, 2007.
Swart J, Edmonds J, Arora A, Dalal S. Case studies of electrical motor and generator failures. Failures 2007, South Africa, 2007.
Arora A, Megerle M, Swart J, Nilsson S. Methods for measuring the mechanical safety vent pressure of lithium ion cells. IEEE Symposium on Product Safety and Compliance Engineering, Irvine, CA, 2006.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S, Ross B. Case studies of electrical component failures. Failures 2006, South Africa, 2006.
Swart J, Arora A. Is lithium ion chemistry viable as a renewable energy storage medium in a micro photovoltaic power system? Advancements in Battery Charging, Monitoring and Testing, Chicago, IL, 2006.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S, Xu Y. Lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles: A safety perspective. 5th International Advanced Automotive Battery (and Ultracapacitor) Conference, Hawaii, 2005.
Swart J, Arora A, Nilsson S, Xu Y. Going beyond industry standards in critically evaluating lithium-ion batteries. Advancements in Battery Charging, Monitoring and Testing, Vancouver, Canada, 2005.
Arora A, Swart J, Nilsson S, Xu Y. Characterizing the vent operation of lithium-ion cells and battery packs. 5th International Advanced Automotive Battery (and Ultracapacitor) Conference, Hawaii, 2005.
Swart J, Wu J, Zumwalt R, Birdsley J. Case studies of IR based rapid PC motherboard failure analysis. ISTFA, Phoenix, AZ, 2002.
Swart J. The unexploited low-heat hydro power in Germany using existing weirs. Karlsruhe University, Germany, 1994.