Carlo CECATI
Department of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics, University of L'Aquila, ITALY
Research interests:
power electronics, converters, electrical machines and drives, smart grids, wireless power transfer
Keynote address:
New Trends in Multilevel Power Converters
Abstract:
Undoubtedly, multilevel converters (MLC) represent one of the hottest research topics in power electronics, in fact, in recent years hundreds of manuscripts have been published on such topics. The basic principle of multilevel converters is to cascade semiconductors according to specific topologies. In this way, it is possible to increase the working voltage and power and to improve the waveforms of the voltages and the output currents, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the system. Thanks to their characteristics, MLC allow the realization of low, medium and high voltage converters. Their applications are numerous ranging from electric transportation to industry, to distributed generation, to smart grids, to ultra-fast charging systems, to robotics, and to many other fields. During the presentation, the main conversion topologies including those with reduced components count will be briefly illustrated discussing the main implementation HW and SW issues. New trends including the use on Wide Band Gap devices, advanced control techniques and design of novel architectures will be discussed. Some interesting application examples will be reported and a modular multilevel converter demonstrator designed and built by DigiPower Ltd. under speaker's coordination will be presented.
Carlo CECATI received the Dr.-Ing. degree in electrotechnical engineering from the University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy, in 1983. Since then, he has been with the same university where, since 2006, he has been a Professor in converters, electrical machines and drives and from 2005 to 2013 a Rector's Delegate. From 2015 to 2017, he has been a Qianren Talents Professor (1000 Talents Program Distinguished Professor) with Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China. In 2007 he has been the founder and currently he is the CTO of DigiPower, a high-tech "Innovative SME" located in L'Aquila, Italy active in the field of high power electronics. His main current research interests include power electronics for distributed generation, smart grids industry and e-transportation. In these fields, he has authored more than 200 journal and conference papers.
Prof. Cecati has been a "2018 highly cited researcher" (Clarivate Analytics). He has been a co-recipient of the 2012 and of the 2013 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics and of the 2012 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine. Prof. Cecati received the 2017 Antony J. Hornfeck Award from the IEEE Indutrial Electronics Society. From 2010 to 2012 he has been a Co-Editor-in-Chief and from 2013 to 2015, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.
Prof. Cecati has been a "2018 highly cited researcher" (Clarivate Analytics). He has been a co-recipient of the 2012 and of the 2013 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics and of the 2012 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine. Prof. Cecati received the 2017 Antony J. Hornfeck Award from the IEEE Indutrial Electronics Society. From 2010 to 2012 he has been a Co-Editor-in-Chief and from 2013 to 2015, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.
