Power Electronics and Drives
The main field of investigation is the efficient regulation and control of power and energy flow in systems incorporating electric circuits, machines, drives and systems using power semiconductor. switching devices. A major investigation over the past decade has been in the area of active filters for improving power quality and reactive control in electrical networks. With the tremendous growth in the use of computers on industrial sites and commercial buildings, there is growing concern about their impact on power quality.
A major initiative funded by industry and government agencies is under way to build active filters for controlling current harmonics based on the switched-capacitor technique pioneered at Brunel. The application of this technique to flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS) for reactive power and stability control in power distribution and transmission systems is under investigation.
Other important areas of study include switched-mode and resonant power supplies, and application of DSPs, neural networks and fuzzy logic in power electronics systems.