Tutorial

Tutorial 7	Predictive Control – A Simple and Powerful Method to Control Power Converters and Drives
Date/Time	24th May, 2021 Monday / 13:00 - 16:00 hrs
Speakers	Zhenbin Zhang, Shandong University, China Ralph Kennel, Technical University of Munich, Germany Jose Rodriguez, Universidad Andreas Bello, Chile Tobias Geyer, ABB Medium-Voltage Drives, Switzerland Fengxiang Wang, Haixi Institutes, Chinese Academy of Science, China

Abstract

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has been proven to be an effective technique of controlling power converters applied in the conversion of electrical energy. It has been demonstrated to offer several superior advantages over cascaded pulse width modulation-based linear controllers. Some of these include: (i) intuitive and easy to understand (ii) fast dynamics (iii) easy inclusion of non-linearities, and (iv) multivariable control that accommodates several constraints. This tutorial is intended to expound the basic principles necessary to implement MPC in electric drives, renewable energies and smart (micro-) grids. It will also explain recent solutions to several issues that were related to MPC in the past. Practical case studies of applications will be considered of MPC to power converters, motor drives, grid-tied power converters, wind turbine systems. Methods to overcome implementation challenges will also be covered.

Biography

Zhenbin Zhang (S’13–M’16, zbz@sdu.edu.cn) received the Ph.D. degree at the Institute for Electrical Drive Systems and Power Electronics (EAL), Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, with “summa cum laude”. From 2016 to 2017, he worked as a Research Fellow and the group-leader for “Modern Control Strategies for Electrical Drives” group in EAL. Since 2017, he has held the position of full professor and International Collaboration Ambassador of Shandong University, China. Since 2018, he has been a guest professor in TUM with the “August-Wilhelm Scheer Professorship Award.“ In 2018, he was also elected as IEEE Senior Member and TUM-IAS Fellow. In 2019, he was selected as a recipient of China's “1000-Talent-Plan”. In 2020, he was appointed as the director for “International Joint Center for Intelligent Energy and Advanced Energy Conversion Systems”.

Dr. Zhang is a recipient of the VDE-Award, Germany and has received best paper awards from IEEE international conferences three times. He has authored one book and more than 110 papers. Dr. Zhang has also made several invited presentations at international conferences and seminars. In addition, he has facilitated tutorials in IEEE conferences four times. He was elected chairman of IEEE-PRECEDE-2019 programming committee, chairman of IEEE-PRECEDE-2021 conference, and Associate Editor of IEEE TRANS. IND. ELECTRON. Dr. Zhang is the founder and director of the Lab for More Power Electronics Energy Systems in Shandong University. His research interests include power electronics, renewable energy and smart grid.

Ralph Kennel (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Diploma and Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) degrees from the University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1979 and 1984, respectively.,From 1983 to 1999, he worked on several positions with Robert BOSCH GmbH, Germany. Until 1997, he was responsible for the development of servo drives. He was one of the main supporters of VECON and SERCOS interface, two multicompany development projects for a microcontroller and a digital interface especially dedicated to servo drives. Furthermore, he actively took part in the definition and release of new standards with respect to CE marking for servo drives. Between 1997 and 1999, he was responsible for “Advanced and Product Development of Fractional Horsepower Motors” in automotive applications. His main activity was preparing the introduction of brushless drive concepts to the automotive market. From 1994 to 1999, he was appointed as a Visiting Professor with the Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K. From 1999 to 2008, he was a Professor for electrical machines and drives with the Wuppertal University, Wuppertal, Germany. Since 2008, he has been a Professor for electrical drive systems and power electronics with Technische Universtät München, Munich, Germany. His main interests include sensorless control of ac drives, predictive control of power electronics and hardware-in-the-loop systems.,Dr. Kennel is a fellow of IET (former IEE) and a Chartered Engineer in the U.K. Within IEEE, he is Treasurer of the Germany Section as well as Distinguished Lecturer of the Power Electronics Society (IEEE-PELS). He has received in 2013 the Harry Owen Distinguished Service Award from IEEE-PELS, the EPE Association Distinguished Service Award in 2015 as well as the 2019 EPE Outstanding Achievement Award. In 2018, he received the Doctoral degree honoris causa from Universitatea Stefan cel Mare in Suceava (Romania). He was appointed Extraordinary Professor by the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) from 2016 to 2019 and as Visiting Professor with the Haixi Institute by the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2016 to 2021.

Jose Rodriguez (M’81-SM’94-F’10, jose.rodriguez@unab.cl) received the Engineer degree in electrical engineering from the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria, in Valparaiso, Chile, in 1977 and the Dr.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany, in 1985. He has been with the Department of Electronics Engineering, Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria, since 1977, where he was full Professor and President. Since 2015 he is the President of Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile. He has coauthored two books, several book chapters and more than 400 journal and conference papers. His main research interests include multilevel inverters, new converter topologies, control of power converters, and adjustable-speed drives. He has received a number of best paper awards from journals of the IEEE. Dr. Rodriguez is member of the Chilean Academy of Engineering. In 2014 he received the National Award of Applied Sciences and Technology from the government of Chile. In 2015 he received the Eugene Mittelmann Award from the Industrial Electronics Society of the IEEE.

Tobias Geyer (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Dipl.-Ing. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, in 2000 and 2005, respectively, and the Habilitation degree in power electronics from ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, in 2017.,After the Ph.D., he spent three years with GE Global Research, Munich, Germany, three years with the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, and eight years with ABBs Corporate Research Centre, Baden-Dttwil, Switzerland. In 2016, he became a Senior Principal Scientist for power conversion control. He was appointed as an Extraordinary Professor at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, from 2017 to 2020. In 2020, he joined ABBs medium-voltage drives business as R&D Platform Manager of the ACS6000/6080.,He is the author of 35 patent families and the book Model Predictive Control of High Power Converters and Industrial Drives (Wiley, 2016). He teaches a regular course on model predictive control at ETH Zurich. His research interests include medium-voltage and low-voltage drives, utility-scale power converters, optimized pulse patterns, and model predictive control.,Dr. Geyer was the recipient of the 2017 First Place Prize Paper Award in the Transactions on Power Electronics, the 2014 Third Place Prize Paper Award in the Transactions on Industry Applications, and of two Prize Paper Awards at conferences. He is a former Associate Editor for the Transactions on Industry Applications (from 2011 until 2014) and the Transactions on Power Electronics (from 2013 until 2019). He was an international program committee Vice Chair of the IFAC conference on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control in Madison, WI, USA, in 2018. Dr. Geyer is a Distinguished Lecturer of the Power Electronics Society in the years 2020 and 2021.

Fengxiang Wang (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Jiujiang, China, in 1982. He received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering and the M.S. degree in automation from Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang, China, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the Institute for Electrical Drive Systems and Power Electronics, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Munich, Germany, in 2014.,Currently, he is working as Full Professor and Deputy Director with the Quanzhou Institute of Equipment Manufacturing, Haixi Institutes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. His research interests include predictive control and sensorless control for electrical drives and power electronics.,Dr. Wang serves as IET Fellow and Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics and IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion. As General Chair, he organized IEEE 5th International Symposium on Predictive Control of Electrical Drives and Power Electronics (PRECEDE).