Event
ECE Microelectronics Seminar: Mr. Liran Zheng, GA Tech
Monday, April 18, 2022
10:00 a.m.
VIA ZOOM | CLICK LINK FOR DETAILS
Edna Gallardo Walker
ednaw@umd.edu
Power Electronics for a Clean Energy Future
Speaker: Liran Zheng, Georgia Institute of Technology
Abstract:
One of the most significant challenges that human society faces is producing and distributing clean and affordable energy. Electricity and transportation sectors are dominant sectors for US greenhouse gas emissions and account for 25% and 29% of total emissions in 2019, respectively. To enable a clean energy future, renewable energy and energy storage need to be integrated into the electricity sector. A paradigm shift from fossil fuel to clean electricity as the energy source of land, sea, and air transportation is also necessary. Power electronics are ubiquitous electronic apparatus that converts electric power to appropriate form throughout power generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization. Especially, power electronics serve as the electronic interfaces between smart power grids and resources including renewable energy, energy storage, and electrified transportation. Recently, the advancement in wide-bandgap semiconductors ignited significant interests in emerging direct-grid- connected power electronics. New current-source single-stage circuits and model-predictive priority-shifting control methods are proposed. The advantages include significantly reduced size, improved efficiency, and universality for different applications.
Based on the proposed concepts and SiC reverse-blocking MOSFET modules, one DC-DC power converter and one AC-DC power converter have been built and tested for renewable-energy DC collector and electric vehicle fast-charging applications, respectively. It is the first time that current-source direct-grid-connected power electronics are demonstrated and reported. The patents from this work have been licensed under Endeavour GridBlock company for transportation electrification products. I will also discuss the future research directions of power electronics and the research interactions between power electronics and other disciplines to address the interdisciplinary clean energy challenge.
Bio:
Liran Zheng is a Ph.D. candidate with the Center for Distributed Energy at Georgia Institute of Technology. He received the B.S. degree in control engineering from Tsinghua University in 2016 and the M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2018.
He previously held visiting positions with The University of Texas at Austin, the NSF ERC Center for Power Electronics Systems at Virginia Tech, and the General Electric Global Research Center. He is the recipient of the 2021 prize paper award from IEEE Industry Applications Society, the best thesis award and the outstanding graduate award from Tsinghua University, and multiple research presentation awards. He holds patents licensed under Endeavour GridBlock company for transportation electrification products. His research interests include power electronics circuits and controls, wide- bandgap-device-based power electronics, power electronics systems, applications in electric transportation systems, renewable energy systems, and smart grids, and control of distributed energy resources.
