Predictive control- A simple and powerful method of control power converters and drives

Abstract: So far the control of electrical power using power converter has been based on the principle of mean value, using pulse width modulation with linear controllers in a cascaded structure. Recent research works have demonstrated that it is possible to use Predictive Control to control electrical energy with the use of power converters, without using modulators and linear controllers. This is a new approach will have a strong impact on control in power electronics in coming decades. The main advantages are: 1) concepts are very intuitive and easy to understand; 2) easy inclusion of non-linearity in the model.

Ralph M. Kennel was born in 1955 at Kaiserslautern (Germany). In 1979 he got his diploma degree and in 1984 his Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) degree from the University of Kaiserslautern. 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. Dr. Kennel was one of the main supporters of VECON and SERCOS interface, two multi-company development projects for a microcontroller and a digital interface especially dedicated to servo drives. Furthermore he took actively part in the definition and release of new standards with respect to CE marking for servo drives. Between 1997 and 1999 Dr. Kennel 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 Dr. Kennel was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (England, UK). From 1999 – 2008 he was Professor for Electrical Machines and Drives at Wuppertal University (Germany). Since 2008 he is Professor for Electrical Drive systems and Power Electronics at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany). His main interests today are: Sensorless control of AC drives, predictive control of power electronics and Hardware-in-the-Loop systems. Dr. Kennel is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of IET (former IEE) and a Chartered Engineer in the UK. Within IEEE he was Treasurer of the Germany Section as well as Region 8 – furthermore he has been Distinguished Lecturer of the Power Electronics Society (IEEE-PELS).
Dr. Kennel has received in 2013 the Harry Owen Distinguished Service Award from IEEE-PELS as well as the EPE Association Distinguished Service Award in 2015.

Jose Rodriguez 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 was the President of Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile and since 2019 he is full Professor at the same university. 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. According to ISI Web of Knowledge, he has a Hirsch factor of H=67 and more than 20.000 citations.
Dr. Rodriguez has a large experience as consultant for the mining industry, the most important economic area of Chile. One of his works for the industry, the regenerative conveyor belts of Los Pelambres mining company generates more than 10 Megawatts of power using modern converter technology. This project was recognized in 2013 by the Academy of Sciences of Chile as one of the 12 most outstanding innovation projects with high scientific value in all areas of the economic activity in Chile in the last 40 years.
He has supervised 110 students in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 25 Master and 11 PhD.

Marian P. Kazmierkowski received the M.S., Ph.D., and D.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the Institute of Control and Industrial Electronics (ICIE), Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, in 1968, 1972, and 1981, respectively. He is currently a Full Professor with ICIE and a Consultant with the Electrotechnical Institute (IEL), Warsaw, Poland. Prof. Kazmierkowski was Vice-President of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (1999–2001) and Editorin-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS (2004–2006). In 2007 he was elected as a Corresponding Member and in 2016 as an Ordinary Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2010–2014, he served as the Dean of Division IV: Engineering Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2017 he was recipient of the IEEE Medal in Power Engineering.

Zhenbin Zhang was born in Shandong, China. In 2016, he 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 team leader for “Modern control strategies for electrical drives” group in EAL of TUM. Since 2017, he has been appointed as a full professor and International Collaboration Ambassador of Shandong University, China. Since 2018, he has been a guest professor in TUM. In 2019 he was appointed as a National Distinguished Expert of China. Dr. Zhang is a recipient of the VDE-Award, Germany. He serves as an Associate Editor of IEEE TRANS. IND. ELECTRON. and has received three times of “best paper wards” from IEEE international conferences.
He is the founder and director of Lab for More Power Electronics Energy Systems in Shandong University. The research interests of his lab include power electronics and electrical drives, sustainable energy systems and smart grid.