Modulation of Power Converters: A Key Role in Power Electronics
ABSTRACT: The cost reduction of power electronic devices, the increase in their reliability, efficiency and power capability, lower development times (due to power electronics building blocks), together with more demanding application requirements (high performance motor drives, power distribution and quality, renewable energy integration, etcetera), have driven the development of several new inverter topologies recently introduced in industry, particularly medium-voltage converters. New more complex inverter topologies and new application fields come along with additional control challenges, such as: voltage imbalances, power quality issues, higher efficiency needs and fault tolerant operation, which necessarily requires an au pair development of modulation schemes. Therefore, recently there have been significant advances in the field of modulation of dc/ac converters, which conceptually has been dominated for the last several decades almost exclusively by classic pulse width modulation methods. This talk aims to concentrate and discuss the latest developments on this exciting technology, to provide insight on where the state-of-the-art stands today, and analyze the trends and challenges driving its future.
Jose I. Leon (S’04–M’07–SM’14) was born in Cadiz, Spain. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in telecommunications engineering from the University of Seville (US), Seville, Spain, in 1999, 2001, and 2006, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronic Engineering, US. His research interests include electronic power systems, modulation and control of power converters, and renewable energy systems. Dr. Leon was a recipient (as coauthor) of the 2008 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine and the 2012 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. He was the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Early Career Award and is currently serving as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.