Electric Power Conversion
Bingsen Wang | bingsen@egr.msu.edu | www.egr.msu.edu/~bingsen
The Electric Power Conversion Laboratory (EPCL) is dedicated to integrating fundamental theories of electric power conversion systems into innovative solutions for improving system reliability and efficiency. The fundamental aspects of our research involve modeling and control power electronic system in multiple domains and multiple time scales. The practical applications encompass interface of renewable energy, hybrid electric vehicles and electric drives.
The several areas that we have been focusing on include:
Reliability Oriented Control of Wind Energy Systems
The power command in wind energy conversion system (WECS) is subjected to wind power fluctuations, which may cause significant thermal cycling of the semiconductor devices in power converter and in turn may lead to reduction in lifetime as a result. To address this reliability issue, a real-time control scheme based on the reliability model of the system is proposed. A doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based WECS demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Self-Healing Powertrain for HEV
A fault tolerant power train topology has been proposed and developed with minimal increased part count. The salient features include:
- Disturbance-free self-healing in case of open-switch and short-switch faults;
- Post-fault operation at the rated power throughput, long-term operation;
- Excellent reliability, doubled MTTF;
- Fast-response and robust fault identification.
Advanced Control of Electric Drives
Coupled with the capabilities of emerging wide band gap power switching devices and the computational power of modern micro processors, the research effort on electric drives aims at expanding the performance boundary of electric drive applications.
Renewable Energy Interface
The effort for reliable interface of renewable energy is focused on the topologies that minimize the dc link capacitor such that electrolytic-capacitor can be eliminated. Smaller size dc link capacitor facilitates integration and lower cost. Reduced dc link current ripple improves maximum power point tracking and energy yield.
