PhD Position in Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics

Tallinn University of Technology, School of Engineering, Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics offers a 4-year PhD position in Power Engineering and Mechatronics.
Proposed doctoral thesis topic: "Advanced Control methods for Residential Energy Router"

Supervisors: Senior Research Scientist Oleksandr Husev and Research Professor Dmitri Vinnikov

Abstract
The goal of this research consists of the development of the advanced control techniques for ER taking into account high-switching frequency operation and high power density. The control must be extremely reliable and robust and suitable for industrial application.

Description

It is a well-known fact (since Edison-Tesla “current-war”) that ac voltage level can be easily stepped up or down by means of a transformer. The effective electrical energy distributed system can be constructed. Recent works show that even a high-voltage dc-current distribution system is more effective than a high-voltage ac system.

At the same time, it is evident that transient from ac to dc grid cannot be done immediately. In the nearest decade, we will observe a merge of dc and ac systems. As a result, the power electronics facilities that have the ability to merge dc and ac grids are required. The Energy Router (ER) concept becomes even more important and demanded. The price, universal usability, reliability, efficiency and proper control algorithms are key issues to be solved.

The goal of this research consists of the development of the advanced control techniques for ER taking into account high-switching frequency operation and high power density. The control must be extremely reliable and robust and suitable for industrial application.

This research direction includes the following tasks: