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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "F3: Power Electronics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2023) | Viewed by 26001

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ka Wai Eric Cheng

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Department of Electrical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China
Interests: power electronics; electric vehicle; energy storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Power electronics is an enabling technology for power and energy processing. In addition to conventional power converters such as DC/DC, AC/DC, and DC/AC power conversions, power drivers for electrical machines and power system electronics are also part of the research work into power electronics. Recent power electronics has contributed extensively to green technology and electric mobility. We can also see numerous development in photovoltaic, wind power, tidal power, hydropower, nuclear, and new energy power processing.

The electric vehicle needs advanced power electronics to process power for energy storage devices, chargers, and power motor drives. Applications can also be extended to road vehicles, vessels, and aircraft. Power electronics also contributes to robotic control for various servo drives and robotic control devices. Recently, aerospace and space technology has utilized power electronics for energy storage, solar cells, fuel cell, ion thrusters, and solar sailing. It is clear that power electronics is now an advanced technology for all types of power processing.

This Special Issue on “Advances in Power Electronics Technologies” invites you to submit papers in, but not limited to, the following interesting topics:

Static power converters;
Wireless and conductive chargers;
Robotic power electronics;
Aerospace and space power electronics;
Motor and drives;
Actuator and motion control;
Electric transportation;
Power devices and smart power material;
Electromagnetics;
Communication, network, and security;
Industrial applications;
Renewable and new energy sources and processing;
Education in advanced power electronics technologies.

Prof. Dr. Ka Wai Eric Cheng
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

power converter
wireless
conductive chargers
robotic power electronics
motor
electromagnetics
renewable energy
network
security

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 6455 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Energy-Feed Type Split-Capacitor Three-Phase Four-Wire Power Electronic Load Compatible with Various Load Demands

by Shiyi Sun, Qingjun Huang, Bingyang Luo, Jianghua Lu, Jiapeng Luo, Zexu Ma and Guorong Zhu

Energies 2024, 17(1), 119; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17010119 - 25 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1036

Abstract

Energy-feed power electronic loads can precisely control the phase and magnitude of the power supply output current, achieving the emulation of loads. Moreover, they can feed energy back to the grid for energy regeneration, demonstrating significant research value. This article proposes an energy-fed power electronic load topology and control method that can realize the static and dynamic simulation of linear and non-linear loads and take into account the simulation needs of single-phase, three-phase three-wire, and three-phase four-wire loads. The main circuit uses a two-stage back-to-back AC/DC/AC structure: the front side is a three-phase four-wire split capacitor PWM rectifier bridge, which is used to simulate loads under various operating conditions; the back side is a three-phase three-wire PWM inverter bridge, which realizes the energy feeding back to the grid and reduces the waste of energy; and the intermediate side uses a split capacitor to equalize the voltage and achieve voltage stabilization. The topology is analyzed under the simulation demands of three-phase balanced, three-phase unbalanced, single-phase and non-linear loads. Finally, a MATLAB(R2022a)/Simulink simulation platform is built for a power electronic load with a rated capacity of 200 kVA. The simulation results verify the effectiveness, feasibility, and advancement of the power electronic load proposed in this article. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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10 pages, 1774 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Mitigation of Interference on Underground Power Lines Caused by the HVDC Electrode

by Massimo Brignone, Daniele Mestriner, Paolo Molfino, Mario Nervi, Massimo Marzinotto and Sino Patti

Energies 2023, 16(23), 7769; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16237769 - 25 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1139

Abstract

High Voltage Direct Current power links are usually designed to adopt, on a continuous basis or during emergency operations, two grounding plants using the soil or seawater as a link–current return path. Such DCs flowing into the ground can cause problems, of which one of the most important is the increased risk of the corrosion of metallic structures in the area. Normally, the simplest mitigation technique is to keep an adequate distance between the main grounding plants and any metallic structure that can be corroded. Normally, such distances are not less than 5 km. However, there are situations where this approach cannot be applied, for example due to geographical constraints. In this paper, we describe and analyze the behavior of a mitigation technique that can be adopted when the HV pole cable is laid closer than the recommended distance to the main ground electrode. This paper is focused on the minimization of deleterious effects on the cable’s metallic sheath and its earthing points, distributed along it by means of sheath segmentation. The suggested approach appears well-suited to substantially diminishing the current flowing through the sheath of an HVDC power cable. In the segmented scenario, the sheath’s power dissipation is less than one-hundredth of that in the typical continuous configuration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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16 pages, 7134 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Modeling of GaN-FET Power Devices in SPICE

by Janusz Zarębski and Damian Bisewski

Energies 2023, 16(22), 7643; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16227643 - 18 Nov 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1706

Abstract

This paper focuses on the problem of the modeling of FET power transistors made of gallium nitride offered by GaN Systems, Transphorm, and Nexperia. The considered devices have been available on the market since 2014. GaN-FETs are built as a cascade connection of a normally on gallium nitride HEMT and a normally off MOSFET made of silicon. On the manufacturer’s sites, one can find models of these devices for like-SPICE tools in the text form. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the model’s accuracy by comparing calculation results obtained by the use of the considered models with the authors’ measurement results and datasheet. It has been demonstrated that the GaN Systems model built on controlled sources described by a set of arbitrarily selected mathematical functions more accurately reproduces the basic characteristics of a transistor. On the other hand, the models from Transphorm and Nexperia, which are constructed based on built-in semiconductor device models, more precisely calculate the values of selected functional transistor parameters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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33 pages, 29908 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Hydrodynamic and Electrochemical Analysis of Compression and Flow Field Designs in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

by Snigdha Saha, Kranthi Kumar Maniam, Shiladitya Paul and Venkata Suresh Patnaikuni

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6311; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176311 - 30 Aug 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1436

Abstract

This numerical study investigates compression and flow field design effects on electrode behaviour in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Through 3D simulations and analysis of various flow field designs, including conventional, serpentine, interdigitated, and parallel configurations, this study investigates three compression scenarios: uncompressed, non-homogeneously compressed, and homogeneously compressed electrodes. Hydrodynamic and electrochemical analyses reveal the impact on velocity, pressure, current density, overpotential, and charge–discharge performance. Interdigitated flow field is found to display the lowest charging potential and highest discharging potential among all flow fields under all three compression scenarios. Moreover, uncompressed electrode condition shows the conservative estimates of an average charging potential of 1.3647 V and average discharging potential of 1.3231 V in the case of interdigitated flow field, while compressed electrode condition and the non-homogeneously compressed electrode condition show an average charging potential of 1.3922 V and 1.3777 V, and an average discharging potential of 1.3019 V and 1.3224 V, respectively. Results highlight the significance of non-uniform compression while modelling and analysing the performance of VRFBs as it is a more realistic representation compared to the no-compression or homogeneous compression of the electrodes. The findings of this work provide insights for optimising VRFB performance by considering compression and flow field design. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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22 pages, 22114 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Circulating Current Reduction Control Method for Asynchronous Carrier Phases of Parallel Connected Inverters

by Seung-Yong Lee and Jae-Jung Jung

Energies 2022, 15(5), 1949; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15051949 - 7 Mar 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2985

Abstract

Parallel operation of inverters is one of the most effective and representative ways to increase system capacity. However, zero-sequence circulating currents occur due to the practical deviations of components constituting individual inverters in case of parallel connected inverters in which a common direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) bus is shared. In particular, circulating currents of the high-frequency component as well as those of the low-frequency component are generated due to the asynchronization of the carriers of individual inverters. In order to suppress the circulating currents as such, the phases of the carriers should be shifted as much as the phase errors between the carriers to compensate for the phase errors. A difficulty in this phase compensation control is that when there are several pulse-width modulation (PWM) carriers, it is impossible to identify the phase of each carrier. In this paper, to overcome the problem, a method to specify the position of one of the many carriers and control the carriers and compensate for phase errors based on the relevant phase was proposed. In addition, this paper includes the analysis of circulating currents generated in the case of carrier phase errors and proposes a method to identify carrier phase errors and compensate for the relevant errors. The proposed method was verified through simulations and experiments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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20 pages, 26137 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Topology and Formation of Current Source Step Down Resonant Switched Inductor Converters

by Cuidong Xu and Ka Wai Eric Cheng

Energies 2022, 15(5), 1697; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15051697 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1901

Abstract

This paper presents a current converter that uses an inductor based approach for interim energy storage. A family of the circuits for step down conversion is examined for both non-inverting and inverting operations. The paper has disclosed the method of the generation, so that any order of 1/n conversion ratio can be made. One of the features is to use two transistors only in the common half-bridge style. The main contribution is its special current conversion capability and soft-switching, because it eliminates switching loss and the spike in the devices using a resonant capacitor with the switched-inductor. The performance has been proved to work well for current bucking. This is a new concept for the power converter and is an advanced development of the conventional switched-inductor converter, switched-capacitor, and resonant converter; it is a duality of the switched-capacitor converter. The paper provides a theoretical approach for the current source topology and its formation. It prepares for vast applications in the current source photovoltaic system and current mode system. Experiment verification and loss analysis have proven the preferable characteristics. Benchmarking comparison with similar converters has been made and advanced features have been described. The proposed converter presents current mode research for increasing application in the coming decade. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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15 pages, 2639 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimizing Device Structure of PTB7-Th:PNDI-T10 Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells by Enhancing Optical Absorption

by Daniel Dodzi Yao Setsoafia, Kiran Sreedhar Ram, Hooman Mehdizadeh Rad, David Ompong, Naveen Kumar Elumalai and Jai Singh

Energies 2022, 15(3), 711; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030711 - 19 Jan 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2192

Abstract

Using the optical transfer matrix method, we optimized the layered structure of a conventional and an inverted BHJ OSC with the active layer made of blended PTB7-Th:PNDI-T10 by maximizing the optical absorption and, hence, the

J_{S C}

. The maximum [...] Read more.

J_{S C}

. The maximum

J_{S C}

thus obtained from the optimised structure of the inverted OSC was 139 Am⁻² and that of the conventional OSC was 135 Am⁻². Simulation of the electric field distribution in both inverted and conventional OSCs showed that the formation of a single CIP was obtained in the active layer of thickness 105 nm in both OSCs. As the light incidents from the ITO side, it was found that excitons were generated more closely to ITO electrode, which favors the efficient charge transport and collection at the opposite electrodes in the inverted OSC, which produces higher

J_{S C}

. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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12 pages, 5516 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A 1.2 kV SiC MOSFET with Integrated Heterojunction Diode and P-shield Region

by Jongwoon Yoon, Jaeyeop Na and Kwangsoo Kim

Energies 2021, 14(24), 8582; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14248582 - 20 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4674

Abstract

A 1.2 kV SiC MOSFET with an integrated heterojunction diode and p-shield region (IHP-MOSFET) was proposed and compared to a conventional SiC MOSFET (C-MOSFET) using numerical TCAD simulation. Due to the heterojunction diode (HJD) located at the mesa region, the reverse recovery time and reverse recovery charge of the IHP-MOSFET decreased by 62.5% and 85.7%, respectively. In addition, a high breakdown voltage (BV) and low maximum oxide electric field (E_MOX) could be achieved in the IHP-MOSFET by introducing a p-shield region (PSR) that effectively disperses the electric field in the off-state. The proposed device also exhibited 3.9 times lower gate-to-drain capacitance (C_GD) than the C-MOSFET due to the split-gate structure and grounded PSR. As a result, the IHP-MOSFET had electrically excellent static and dynamic characteristics, and the Baliga’s figure of merit (BFOM) and high frequency figure of merit (HFFOM) were increased by 37.1% and 72.3%, respectively. Finally, the switching energy loss was decreased by 59.5% compared to the C-MOSFET. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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10 pages, 3525 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Asymmetric Split-Gate 4H-SiC MOSFET with Embedded Schottky Barrier Diode for High-Frequency Applications

by Kyuhyun Cha and Kwangsoo Kim

Energies 2021, 14(21), 7305; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14217305 - 4 Nov 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3594

Abstract

4H-SiC Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) with embedded Schottky barrier diodes are widely known to improve switching energy loss by reducing reverse recovery characteristics. However, it weakens the static characteristics such as specific on-resistance and breakdown voltage. To solve this problem, in this paper, an Asymmetric 4H-SiC Split Gate MOSFET with embedded Schottky barrier diode (ASG-MOSFET) is proposed and analyzed by conducting a numerical TCAD simulation. Due to the asymmetric structure of ASG-MOSFET, it has a relatively narrow junction field-effect transistor width. Therefore, despite using the split gate structure, it effectively protects the gate oxide by dispersing the high drain voltage. The Schottky barrier diode (SBD) is also embedded next to the gate and above the Junction Field Effect transistor (JFET) region. Accordingly, since the SBD and the MOSFET share a current path, the embedded SBD does not increase in R_ON,SP of MOSFET. Therefore, ASG-MOSFET improves both static and switching characteristics at the same time. As a result, compared to the conventional 4H-SiC MOSFET with embedded SBD, Baliga′s Figure of Merit is improved by 17%, and the total energy loss is reduced by 30.5%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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Review

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19 pages, 1714 KiB

Open AccessReview

Overview on Transactive Energy—Advantages and Challenges for Weak Power Grids

by Yuly V. Garcia, Oscar Garzon, Carlos J. Delgado, Jan L. Diaz, Cesar A. Vega Penagos, Fabio Andrade, Adriana C. Luna and J. C. Hernandez

Energies 2023, 16(12), 4607; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16124607 - 9 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1586

Abstract

This document lists some challenges that researchers face when implementing transactive energy in weak power grids. These challenges often include high voltage fluctuations, limited generation, high line loadability, and unbalanced grids. The operation of transactive energy, as well as optimization techniques, are also considered, highlighting the performance and functionalities depending on power grid characteristics and market topology. Some of the most used optimization techniques for market clearing, considering the characteristics and topology, are presented as part of the research work.In addition, this paper compares different market topologies and highlights their advantages and challenges. Furthermore, this paper contains a brief description of the interoperability frameworks applied to a smart grid.As a result, it was determined that interoperability is necessary for the proper functioning of the grid. Moreover, all methods were found to be effective for their purpose from the user’s point of view as each technique has different characteristics relevant to the user and the grid. It was concluded that it is convenient to combine the optimization techniques to consider different constraints in the market clearing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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25 pages, 4668 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review of Distributed Secondary Control Architectures in Islanded-Inverter-Based Microgrids

by Omar F. Rodriguez-Martinez, Fabio Andrade, Cesar A. Vega-Penagos and Adriana C. Luna

Energies 2023, 16(2), 878; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16020878 - 12 Jan 2023

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1905

Abstract

The increasing energy demand, the shortage of energy resources, and the environmental challenges faced by conventional power-generation systems are some of the ongoing challenges faced by modern power systems. Therefore, many efforts have been made by the scientific community to develop comprehensive solutions to overcome these issues. For instance, current technological advances have allowed the integration of distributed generators into the power systems, promoting the use of microgrids to overcome these issues. However, the use of renewable distributed generators have introduced new challenges to the traditional control system schemes. To overcome these challenges, a hierarchical control approach has been proposed for distributed renewable sources. In other words, the control scheme have been divided into three hierarchical levels, primary, secondary, and tertiary, to overcome the new challenges present in modern power systems. Due to extensiveness of this topic, this overview is focused on secondary control systems, mainly for AC isolated microgrids. To improve the power quality of modern systems, several secondary control schemes have been proposed to overcome the well-known problem of frequency and voltage deviation. Some of these schemes have also introduced adequate active/reactive power sharing techniques to optimize the utilization of resources. Additionally, other secondary control schemes have also focused on reducing the communication load, to lower the network cost and adding robustness against communication problems. This article presents an insight of the different control techniques used to overcome power quality and communication problems. A comprehensive overview of distributed secondary control techniques for islanded microgrids is presented. In addition, the implementation of these techniques is explained in an orderly and sequential manner. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Power Electronics Technologies)

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