EECS Faculty candidate seminar: Grid-connected power electronics for clean energy applications — Liran Zheng, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

About the event

OVERVIEW
Power electronics are ubiquitous electronic apparatus that converts electric power to appropriate form throughout power generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization. One of the most significant challenges that human society faces is producing and distributing clean and affordable energy. Renewable energy and energy storage need to be integrated into the electricity sector. A paradigm shift from fossil fuel to clean electricity as the energy source of land, sea, and air transportation is also necessary. Renewable energy, energy storage, and electrified transportation resources are low-voltage (LV) resources. These resources are traditionally integrated into medium-voltage (MV) power grids using 60 Hz transformer and LV power electronics. There is an emerging MV power electronics solution for the grid integration of these resources. The advantages include significantly reduced footprint, improved efficiency, and additional system-level flexibility. New grid-connected MV power electronics from my research will be introduced for renewable energy and transportation electrification applications.

Bio
Liran Zheng received the B.S. degree in control engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2016, and the M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering in 2018 from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, where he is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree with the Center for Distributed Energy. His research interests include power electronics and applications in electric transportation systems, renewable energy systems, and smart grids.