Power Electronic Converters

The research into power electronic converters is concerned with new soft-switching techniques which enable efficient operation at high switching frequencies, thereby permitting the miniturisation of transformer and filter components. The work also embraces new fabrication methods for power converters and magnetic components. Power levels are typically up to 10kW with operating frequencies in excess of 1MHz at low power. The applications are mainly in low voltage DC power supplies; current projects include multi-kilowatt battery charging equipment, and at high-power-factor-rectification techniques for aircraft systems.

Devising high-performance methods of control for power electronic converters forms an integral part of this research area, for example: multi-loop control of resonant converters, control of resonant high-power-factor-rectifiers, application of high speed digital systems and adaptive control strategies.