Software-Defined Power Electronics

Software-defined power electronics leverages a real-time control framework to form modular, reconfigurable, and partially redundant power converters. This talk explores a hierarchical control architecture that is composed of three layers: (1) the physical layer consists of optimized Lego-like power electronic converters called autoconverter modules (ACM) that consist of power conversion hardware, real-time control, and protection schemes implemented in microcontrollers; the power electronic complexities, e.g. switching and PWM are solved locally and the power conversion capabilities are exposed to higher control layers; (2) the interconnection layer defines the real-time communication that exposes the sensors, hardware peripherals, and actuators, e.g. pulse width modulators (PWM) to a central processor; (3) the application layer defines the application layer controls, e.g. renewable loads/sources including single/three-phase grid, solar, battery, and electric motor. The software-defined power electronics is shown on two example implementations: an EV traction inverter and EV charging equipment.

Dr. Matthias Preindl

Associate Professor, Columbia University on February 3, 2023 at 10:15 AM in EB3 2207

Matthias Preindl received the B.Sc. degree from the University of Padua (summa cum laude, 2008), the M.Sc. degree from ETH Zurich (2010), and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Padua (2014), in electrical engineering. He is an Associate Professor at Columbia University, USA. Prior to joining Columbia in 2016, he was an R&D Engineer of Power Electronics and Drives at Leitwind AG (2010-2012), a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at McMaster University, Canada (2014-2015).
Dr. Preindl serves as Area Editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and was the general chair of 2022 IEEE/AIAA ITEC+EATS. He is a Fellow of IET, recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2017), IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics best paper award (2019) and co-recipient of Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Awards honorable mention (2022). His research interests include the design and control of motor drives, power electronics, and batteries for transportation electrification and renewable energy.

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