Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The widespread adoption of power electronics systems, such as distributed generators and electric vehicles, has drawn significant attention to power quality problems in smart grids. Consumers are exposed to increasing power quality issues such as utility voltage sag/swell, three--phase unbalance, voltage fluctuation (flicker) phenomenon, and reactive power issues. Dynamic voltage restorers (DVRs) are normally used to address these challenges, but their application is limited. The stochastically non-linear characteristics and dynamics of power quality issues require smart DVRs at the core of the power conversion equipment. The proposed research program aims to develop novel ultra- high- efficiency and high -reliability AC-AC converters based dynamic DVR and advanced digital control strategies for power quality improvement in smart grids. The proposed research program will strive to achieve the following objectives: 1) Develop and investigate innovative bidirectional non-isolated single-stage buck-boost direct Pulse-width-modulated (PWM) AC-AC power converters and DVRs with the latest Wide Band Gap (WBG) silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor devices. 2) Develop and investigate innovative bidirectional single-stage high-frequency transformer-isolated direct PWM AC-AC converters and DVRs using SiC and GaN devices. 3) Improve the reliability of the proposed AC-AC converters and DVRs. 4) Develop digital control strategies for the proposed AC-AC converters and DVRs to enable smart-grid operations such as reactive power, frequency and voltage sag/swell compensations. The proposed research program will provide unique training and industrial collaboration opportunities for students in power quality improvement in smart grid operations. The students will be specifically trained in power converters, power quality improvement techniques, magnetic integration, circuit simulations, control implementation, hardware prototyping and a broad knowledge of using test equipment, such as electronic power supplies, modern high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, electronic loads, multimeters, network/spectrum/impedance analyzers, and real-time hardware-in-loop simulators. Research collaborations and internship opportunities will be created with power electronics and power systems companies inside and outside Canada. The technological advances from the proposed research will also be adaptable in the rapidly growing electric vehicle and power industries. The trained students in my research group will be highly qualified and well-trained engineers who will contribute tremendously to the Canadian workforce and society.