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by Bimal K. Bose
Research Areas
in Power Electronics
As I mentioned, power electronics is a
complex and interdisciplinary technology, and doing research in this area
requires a comprehensive background
in electrical engineering and beyond.
Figure 1 shows some key inventions
related to power electronics [2]. The
research in power electronics can be
broadly classified into research on
devices, converter systems, motor
drives, and general energy systems,
which are summarized, respectively, in
Figures 25. The motor drive area is always included in power electronics because complexity in this area is mainly
due to power electronics.
The research on devices, particularly power semiconductor devices, is
extremely important because evolution
in this area has essentially brought on
the modern power electronics revolution. The present trend of research and
development (R&D) on silicon and largebandgap power semiconductor devices
will continue until the power device
characteristics and ratings are significantly improved, approaching an ideal
switch. However, note that the basic
research on power semiconductor and
peripheral devices (including machines)
does not strictly fall in the mainstream
of power electronics, except for the evaluation of their performances. Generally,
every research project in power electronics has the usual implementation
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FIGURE 1 Some key inventions related to power electronics.
1) Converters:
Present Converters (Voltage-Fed, Current-Fed, Hybrid, HF Link, Etc.) with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Topology
[Control Strategy, Response, Loss and Efficiency, Line and Load Harmonics, Power Quality,
Filtering, Soft Switching, Dead-Time Compensation, Power (P), Reactive Power (Q), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD),
Power Factor (PF), Displacement Power Factor (DPF), Electromagnetic Interference (EMI),
Line/Converter/Load Faults, Fault Diagnostics and Fault-Tolerant Control, Hardware/Software Implementation, Etc.]
Design, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation
2) PWM Techniques:
Present PWM Techniques [Sinusoidal Pulsewidth Modulation (SPWM), Selected Harmonic Elimination (SHE),
Static Volt Ampere Reactive (Var) Compensator Hysteresis Band (SVC.HB)]
with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Technique
Design, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation
FIGURE 3 Research topics on converter systems.
1) Machines
Present Machines [Induction Motor (IM), Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM),
Wound-Field Synchronous Motor (WFSM), Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)
with Radial, Axial, or Linear Geometry] with Incremental Change
or
Development of New Machine
(Volume, Weight, Power/Torque Density, Parameters, Losses and Efficiency, Cooling, Pulsating Torque,
Acoustic Noise, Faults, Etc.)
Design, Fabrications, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation
2) Control Strategy
Present Control Strategies [Vector Control, DTC Control, Model Referencing Adaptive Control (MRAC),
Self-Tuning Regulator (STR),
Variable Structure Control (SMC), Model Predictive Control, Fuzzy and Neural Controls,
Genetic Algorithm (GA) Control, Sensorless Control, Disturbance
Compensation, Fault-Tolerant Control and Other Scalar, Optimal, and Adaptive Controls,
Hardware/Software Implementation] with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Strategy
Analysis, Design, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation
3) Estimation and Measurements
Present Techniques [Torque, Slip, Flux, Speed, Position, Acceleration, Disturbance (Line and Load),
Response, Accuracy, Harmonic Effects, Machine Parameters (Stator and Rotor Resistances, and Stator and
Rotor Inductances), dv/dt Effect on Insulation, Bearing Current, Acoustic Noise, Machine Voltage
Boost for Long Cable, Fault Diagnosis (Online and Offline), Hardware/Software
Implementation, Etc.] with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Strategy
Design, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation
FIGURE 4 Research topics on machines and motor drives.
Whatever it is, you have essentially chosen research as the main activity in your
career path. It is very likely that you will
select a university to start a faculty career. So, welcome as a tenure-track assistant professor in electrical engineering.
What are the merits and challenges
in a university career? First, among the
merits, you have a lot of freedom. Essentially, you are your own boss. You wont
have to report for work during the
8 a.m.5 p.m. time frame. In a university,
if the department is big, you seldom
meet your department head, and he
will never ask you how your work is going. By adding Prof. with your name,
you maintain a prestige and ego in the
career. A university professor is an emblem of intellectual thinking and is highly respected in society. You can travel to
conferences as you want, provided you
control the travel funds. A university
job in the United States is typically for
nine months out of the year. This means
that in the summer you can work for
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FIGURE 5 Research topics on general energy systems.
book for this. After attending a conference presentation or reading a paper, the
question should arise in his or her mind,
Have I learned anything new? The ideas
can be jotted down in the notebook.
Sometimes, research ideas flash in our
thoughtful mind when we are relaxing in
a chair, walking alone, etc. Solitude is the
breeding ground for new ideas. The ideas
should be innovative, advanced, and
timely in the current technology trend.
Once the idea crystalizes in the mind, it
should be verified by an intensive literature review to be sure that it is sound and
has not been solved before. Figure 6 gives
guidelines for planning a research project
and proposal preparation. An appropriate project title and objective of the
research should be written clearly and
convincingly. These and the technical
background of the proposal with appropriate references will demonstrate the importance of the project and the authors
knowledge base to handle it. The other
parts of the proposal, i.e., formulation
and scheduling of the tasks, background
of the project investigators (particularly
the principal investigator), lab facilities,
and budget, are also important.
Doctoral Research
A full-time doctoral student in a university typically takes four years to complete his or her courses, qualifying and
comprehensive exams, and the research
work after the M.S. degree, whereas an
M.S. degree may take two years for completion. A doctoral project should be an
original contribution in technology and
should include the steps of idea formulation, a literature study, a system analysis, a computer simulation, and finally an
experimental investigation to validate
the results, as indicated in Figure 7. A
university professor in a good university
normally demands one or two transactions publications from the doctoral dissertation. The scope of an M.S. thesis is
much narrower and may involve either a
simulation or experimental study, finally
resulting in a simple conference paper.
In the beginning, the advising professor should define the research project
for the student. It will be unfortunate if
the professor is too busy and does not
have a clear idea for the research and,
therefore, depends on the student to
Search the literature and be sure the idea is novel and timely.
(see Figure 1) may be worth 20 high-quality papers. If you are a young, untenured
professor, transactions publications will
help you get tenure and promotions. If
you are a tenured professor, more transactions publications will promote your
fame, help you become an IEEE Fellow,
and may subsequently bring other IEEE
and non-IEEE awards and honors. Gradually, the door of your career may open for
new avenues of success. Needless to say,
publications are extremely important in
the academic community for survival
following the axiom publish or perish.
If you are an industrial researcher, publication may not be that important, but
it brings fame to your career. However, if
you are an engineer in industry and trying to transition to a university career,
you must build up a publication base.
Above all, publications bring the tremendous satisfaction of career accomplishments. A scientist without publications
is forgotten quickly.
If you have done research and the
results are of archival value, these are
publishable as papers. The material
progress of your project to your manager, who may be less mature and less
educated than you. He or she may also
have an arrogant personality that may
be difficult for you to bear. If you meet
him/her in the corridor, he or she may
ask you, How is the project going? Your
travels are restricted mostly to business
travels. There is no tenure system in
industry, and you may be laid off with
short notice if the companys financial
condition is not good or if it changes its
research direction.
A research lab in a large corporation may undertake large governmentfunded projects, or problem-solving
tasks for their product departments, in
addition to its own assessed-fund technology development projects. Much of
the discussion on academic research
given in the previous section is also
applicable in industrial projects. Since
industries are profit oriented, the R&D
activity is highly organized to economize cost. The publication of patents is
of much higher priority than the publication of papers. In fact, paper publication is often denied or delayed until
My Experience in Research
I started my power electronics research
in 1958 in the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, where I completed my M.S.
degree in 1960 under the support of the
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID). My project was
concerned with investigating threephase diode-bridge rectifier harmonics
on a long transmission line. In those
days, thyristors were not available commercially (they were introduced in 1958),
but silicon power diodes were available
in high power for industrial applications.
FIGURE 9 Doing research in the GE-CRD laboratory on DSP control of EV (ETXII) project. (From
left) Paul Szczesny, Bimal Bose, and Hunt Sutherland [11].
FIGURE S1
William McMurray
(19262006) [10].
Conclusion
The article has provided a comprehensive and personalized review on doing
research in power electronics, which includes my experience and contributions
during my career that spans more than
four decades, covering the entire period
of the modern power electronics evolution. Although my experience has been
highlighted in the article, it should be emphasized that the technology has been
enriched by the relentless contributions
of many researchers over a long period of
time. The article is generally addressed
to young researchers who are about to
embark on a new career. Research in the
university and industry is generally a vast
topic and is covered here briefly, emphasizing the salient points. The advantages
and demerits of both the career paths are
outlined. Doctoral research that includes
the formulation of project ideas, proposal
preparation, execution of the project, and
writing papers for publication has been
highlighted in the discussion. Hopefully,
my research experience, including my
own contributions, will be of interest and
benefit to the readers. Finally, I would like
to conclude the article with some advice
[31] for young researchers (Figure 10). I
have tried to follow these instructions in
my own career.
Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to my graduate
students and visiting scholars who
contributed so much for the development of my career. Most of the names
are cited with the references at the end
of this article. I am also grateful to Prof.
T.H. Liu of the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology for reviewing the whole article and making
some suggestions. The presentation of
a similar topic was given in his university with his invitation [3].
Biography
Bimal K. Bose (bbose@utk.edu) was a
faculty member at the Bengal Engineering College, India, [currently the Indian
Institute of Engineering Science and
Technology (IIEST)] from 1960 to 1971.
From 1971 to 1976, he was an associate
professor of electrical engineering at the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy,
New York. From 1976 to 1987, he was a research engineer in General Electric Corporate Research and Development (GECRD) (now GE Global Research Center),
Schenectady, New York. He has been
the Condra Chaired Professor (Chair of
Excellence) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, since 1987. He specializes in power electronics, motor drives,
and artificial intelligence applications.
References