See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/3900950

Energy, environment, and advances in power electronics

Conference Paper in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics · February 2000

DOI: 10.1109/ISIE.2000.930467 · Source: IEEE Xplore

CITATIONS READS
186 1,539

1 author:

Bimal Bose
University of Tennessee
178 PUBLICATIONS 16,967 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Bimal Bose on 25 July 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

688 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4, JULY 2000

Energy, Environment, and Advances in Power

Electronics
Bimal K. Bose, Life Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—The technology of power electronics has gone through and the environment was relatively clean. Then, in 1785, the
rapid technological advancement during the last four decades, and invention of steam engine by James Watt of Scottland brought
recently, its applications are fast expanding in industrial, commer- industrial revolution. It was the beginning of mechanical
cial, residential, military and utility environments. In the global in-
dustrial automation, energy conservation and environmental pol- age, or age of machines. The advent of internal combustion
lution control trends of the 21st century, the widespread impact of engine in the late nineteenth century gave further momentum
power electronics is inevitable. The paper begins with a discussion to the trend. Gradually, industrial revolution spread from
on global energy generation scenario and the corresponding en- Europe to America, and then to the rest of the world. In
vironmental pollution problem. The mitigation of this problem is 1888, Nickola Tesla invented commercial induction motor.
then discussed with particular emphasis on energy saving with the
help of power electronics. A brief but comprehensive review of the The commercial dc machine came somewhat earlier, and
recent advances of power electronics that includes power semicon- synchronous machine came somewhat later. The introduction
ductor devices, converters, machines, drives and control is incor- of electrical machines along with commercial availability of
porated in the paper. Finally, a prognosis for the 21st century has electrical power started the new electrical age. It is interesting
been outlined. to note that the Croatia-born engineer Tesla came to USA to
Index Terms—Converter, drive, energy, environment, machine, work with Thomas Edison, the inventing wizard of nineteenth
power electronics, power semiconductor device. century. Interestingly, with 1093 U.S. patents, Edison is often
considered as the greatest inventor in history. He had only three
I. INTRODUCTION months of formal schooling, and believed that “genius is 99%
perspiration and only 1% inspiration.” Edison was a fervent

P OWER electronics has now firmly established its impor-

tance as indispensable tool in industrial process applica-
tions after decades of technological evolution. Fortunately, we
advocate of dc machines and firmly believed that ac machines
had no future. He even refused to attend any discussion related
to ac machines. Gradually, Edison and Tesla became fierce
are now living in an era of industrial renaissance when not only
enemies because of their diagonally opposite viewpoints. The
power electronics but also computers, communication, informa-
invention of the transistor in 1948 by Bardeen, Brattain, and
tion, and transportation technologies are advancing rapidly. The
Schokley brought us to the threshold of modern solid-state elec-
advancement of these technologies has brought the geographi-
tronics age. Then, in 1956, Bell Telephone Laboratory invented
cally remote areas in the world closer day by day. We now live
thyristor (PNPN transistor) which was later commercialized
in a truly global society, particularly with the advancement of
by General Electric Co. Then, gradually came the modern eras
internet communication . The nations of the world have now
of integrated circuits, computers, communication and robot
become increasingly dependent on each other as a result of this
technologies. It is often said that solid-state electronics brought
closeness. In spite of great diversity among nations, one thing
in the first electronics revolution, whereas solid-state power
we can safely predict with certainty that in the 21st century,
electronics brought in the second electronics revolution. It is
wars in the world will be fought on economic rather than mil-
interesting to note that power electronics essentially blends the
itary fronts. In the new global market, free from trade barriers,
technologies brought in by the mechanical age, electrical age,
the nations around the world will face fierce industrial compet-
and electronics age. It is truly an interdisciplinary technology.
itiveness for survival and improvement of living standards. In
the highly automated industrial environment struggling for high
quality products with low cost, it appears that two technologies II. ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
will be most dominating: computers and power electronics with
A. Energy Scenario
motion control.
Let me first give a broad historical perspective. As you Energy has been the life-blood for continual progress of
know, before the industrial civilization in the world that started human civilization. Since the beginning of industrial revolution
around 200 years ago, people were essentially dependent on around two centuries ago, the global energy consumption has
manual and animal labor. Life was simple and unsophisticated, increased by leaps and bounds to accelerate the human living
standard, particularly in the industrialized nations of the world.
Manuscript received January 29, 1999; revised January 20, 2000. This In fact, per-capita energy consumption has been a barometer
work was presented at the IEEE-PEDES Conference, Australia, 1998, and the of a nation’s economic prosperity. The USA has the highest
IEE-IAS Conference, Japan, 1997. Recommended by Associate Editor, L. Xu. living standard in the world. With only 5% of world population,
The author is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-2100 USA. it consumes 25% of total energy. Japan, on the other hand,
Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8993(00)05559-9. consumes 5% of total energy with 2% of world population.
0885–8993/00$10.00 © 2000 IEEE
BOSE: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS 689

India and China together, with 38% of world population,

consumes only one-tenth of that of USA.
Globally, as indicated in Fig. 1(a), 87% of total energy is gen-
erated from fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas), 6% is gener-
ated in nuclear plants, and the remaining 7% comes from renew-
able sources (mainly hydro and wind power) [1]. The U.S. en-
ergy generation [Fig. 1(b)] approximately follows the same pat-
tern [2]. As indicated, 42% of U.S. energy comes from oil most
of which is consumed in automobile transportation. Currently,
USA imports more than 50% oil from outside. Fig. 2 shows the
electricity generation of USA, Japan, China and India by dif-
ferent types of fuel [3]. In USA, 37% of total energy is gener-
ated in electrical form of which 55% comes from coal and 20%
comes from nuclear plants. It is interesting to note that China
and India generate most of the electricity from coal (74% and
71%, respectively).
Unfortunately, the world has limited fossil fuel and nuclear
power resources. Fig. 3 shows the idealized potential energy de-
pletion curves of the world [4]. The world has large reserve of
coal. It is then followed by oil, natural gas and uranium fuel,
respectively. The natural uranium fuel is expected to last hardly
for 50 years. Of course, breeder reactor can generate more nu-
clear fuel. Oil is expected to last hardly for more than 100 years,
and gas for 150 years. However, coal is expected to last for more
than 200 years. How can we operate our automobiles and aero-
planes when oil gets totally exhausted? Of course, fossil fuels
can often be converted to another form. Will the wheels of civi-
lization come to screeching halt beyond the 22nd century when
fossil and nuclear fuels become totally exhausted? By energy
conservation, the fuel depletion curves can be extended in time.
The wind and solar power, not shown in Fig. 3, can be explored Fig. 1. Energy generation scenario. (a) Global total energy. (b) US total energy.
extensively. Can we expect a break-through in fusion power to
solve our future energy needs? Unfortunately, in spite of pro- climate change may adversely affect our agriculture and
longed and expensive research, fusion power has not yet shown vegetation. Of course, preserving the world’s rain forests and
any practical sign of future promise. The U.S. Department of widespread forestation can alleviate this problem. The acid
Energy has recently down-scaled fusion research in the labora- rain, mainly caused by SO and NO due to coal burning,
tories of USA. It appears that cheap and abundant energy supply damages vegetation. Then, of course, there is urban pollution
which we are now enjoying will be over in future and our society problem mainly by IC engine vehicles.
will be forced to move in an altered direction. Fig. 4 compares the present and projected emissions of four
different countries, i.e., USA, China, India, and Japan for elec-
B. Environmental Issues tricity generation [3]. USA consumes largest amount of elec-
Unfortunately, environmental pollution and safety problems tricity, and therefore, emission generated by USA is the largest.
contributed by increased energy consumption are recently Japan is a smaller country and it has much stricter air pollu-
becoming domination issues in our society. Nuclear power tion standard. However, fast developing countries like China and
plants have safety problems. Besides, nuclear plant waste India, mainly dependent on coal, are increasing pollution at a
remains radioactive for thousands of years. Even with the latest much faster rate. Japan is already facing a problem by coal-gen-
technology, we do not know how to satisfactorily dispose of the erated pollution in near-by China. Environmental pollution is
nuclear waste. The U.S. society vehemently opposes expansion truly a global problem, and the Kyoto conference in 1997 tended
of nuclear power in spite of having stringent safety standards by to address this problem.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Anti-nuclear slogan How can we solve or mitigate the environmental pollution
is now spreading in many countries of the world. problems? As a first step, all our energy consumption can be
Burning of fossil fuels emits gases, such as CO , SO , NO , promoted in electrical form, and then advanced emission control
HC, O and CO, besides generation of fly ash by coal. These standards can be applied in central fossil fuel plants. The prob-
gases create environmental pollution problems, such as global lems then become easier to handle when compared to distributed
warming (green house effect), acid rain and urban pollution. consumption of coal, oil and natural gas. As emission control
Global warming (a few degrees in hundred years) may cause technologies advance, more and more stringent controls can be
melting of polar ice cap and corresponding inundation of enforced in central power stations. Wind energy is the cheapest
low-lying areas of the world. In addition, the resulting world (5 to 6 cents/kWH) environmentally clean and safe renewable
690 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4, JULY 2000

Fig. 2. Electricity generation by fuel types for selected countries.

Fig. 3. Idealized energy depletion curves.

energy source, and the world has truly vast potential of it. It India [6]. Wind and solar power (also environmentally clean)
has been estimated that if 10% of raw wind potential could be are particularly attractive for people of the emerging countries
utilized (ignoring the economic constraints), the whole world’s who are not tied to electric power grids. It has been estimated
electricity needs could be met [6]. The recent advances in vari- that currently around two billion people (33% of world pop-
able speed wind turbines, power electronics and variable speed ulation) are isolated from power grids. Of course, wind and
drive technologies with advanced control are promoting large solar power, being statistical in nature, require back-up energy
expansion of wind energy programs in USA, Europe, China and sources. The solar photovoltaics are currently expensive ($3.5 to
BOSE: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS 691

concern in our society. Currently, oil conservation as well as en-

vironmental pollution control are the motivating factors that are
urging worldwide R & D activities in EV/HV. In 1990, Cali-
fornia Air Resource Board (CARB) established rules (with sev-
eral revisions thereafter) that mandated 10% of all vehicles sold
in California by 2004 must be zero emission vehicles (ZEV).
The California mandate made wide reverberations not only in
the other states of USA but in Europe and Japan also.
Fig. 5 shows the fuel chains for gasoline-fuelled IC engine
vehicles (ICEV) and EV charged with coal-based power where
typical efficiency figures are incorporated. It is assumed that
electricity for EV is mainly generated in coal-based power sta-
tion. ICEV has very poor efficiency, and calculation indicates
that nearly 10% of gross energy of oil well is delivered to the
wheels. On the other hand, EV has much higher efficiency, and
nearly 20% of gross energy of coal mine is delivered to the
wheels. However, note that the urban pollution due to ICEV is
replaced by equivalent central power station pollution due to EV.
As mentioned before, the emission control in a central power
station is much easier to handle than that of individual vehicles.
Considering the potential importance of electric and hybrid
vehicles, in September 1993, the U.S. President along with
the “big three” automakers (GM, Ford and Chrysler) declared
a PNGV (Partnership for Next Generation Vehicles) program
[9] with the goal of producing state-of-the art hybrid vehicle
by the year 2004. The vehicle should have fuel efficiency (80
miles/gallon) three times the present value, range of 380 miles,
Fig. 4. Present and projected emissions of selected countries for electricity useful life of 100 000 miles and very low emission (0.125
generation.
HC/1.7 CO/0.2 NO gms/mile). Of course, the vehicle should
be cost-effective and acceptable by customers.
$4.5/W), and have low efficiency (13% to 16%). However, with Although electric and hybrid vehicles have been commer-
the present research trend, the cost and efficiency are expected cially introduced recently by a few companies around the world,
to improve significantly in future [8]. they are currently far below the consumer’s acceptance level in
Urban pollution can be prevented by widespread use of elec- cost and performance. Fortunately, EV/HV is very intensive in
tric vehicles and subway transportation. Note that wind power, power electronics that has reached an acceptable level of ma-
photovoltaics, electric car and subway systems heavily depend turity in the recent years. It is essentially the limitation of bat-
on power electronics which will be discussed later. Conservation tery technology that is inhibiting the acceptance of EV in the
of energy by more efficient use of electricity, and thus reduction market place. Today’s propulsion battery is too heavy and ex-
of fuel consumption, is a definite way to reduce pollution be- pensive. Besides, it has low cycle life, gives low vehicle range,
sides having economic payoff. It also helps saving precious fuels and has the limitation of slow charging. Even with the capa-
for the future. The role of power electronics in energy saving bility of fast charging, the present utility distribution network
will be discussed later. Unfortunately, availability of cheap en- can not handle the charging power if large number of EV bat-
ergy promotes its wastage. It has been estimated that 33% of teries are fast-charged simultaneously. With the limited energy
total energy is simply wasted in the USA because of consumer storage capability of battery, EV is essentially suitable for lim-
negligence [1]. In Japan, energy is typically four times more ex- ited range city driving. HV can truly replace ICEV, but the cost
pensive, and therefore, the urge for energy saving is great. is much higher. Among the possible energy storage devices [11]
for EV/HV, such as battery, flywheel and ultra-capacitor, the
battery is the most viable candidate, and will remain so in near
III. ELECTRIC/HYBRID VEHICLES
future. Battery has been the prime focus for research for a long
Since electric and hybrid vehicles can play dominant role in time, but the technological evolution has been very slow. In
environmental pollution control and they constitute a major ap- 1990, the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) was es-
plication area of power electronics, the paper will remain in- tablished to sponsor R & D activities in this area. It established
complete without some discussion of them. The history of EV near-term, mid-term and long-term research goals, as indicated
goes back to nearly a century, but serious R & D in this area in Table I [12]. At present, lead-acid battery is possibly the best
started during Arab oil embargo in the 1970’s. The prime focus compromise in energy density, power density, life-cycle, cost
at that time was oil saving in order to reduce dependence on and other criteria. It has been widely used in developmental
imported oil. However, in the 1980’s, the environmental pol- EV’s that include GM commercial EV1. Nickel-Cadmium bat-
lution (particularly urban pollution) problem became a serious tery has higher energy density and longer life, but it is expensive.
692 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4, JULY 2000

Fig. 5. Fuel chains for gasoline-fuelled ice vehicle and electric vehicle with coal-based power.

TABLE I
BATTERY TECHNOLOGY STATUS

Sodium-Sulfur battery has reasonably high energy density, high for the storage device. Although gasoline engine has been
cycle life, but its power density is low and operating temperature the traditional power device, other candidates such as diesel
is high. Nickel-Metal-Hydride and Lithium batteries appear to engine, gas turbine and fuel cell can also be considered. Diesel
be more promising EV battery, but currently they are very ex- engine has improved efficiency, but it is noisy and gives fumes.
pensive. For these reasons, it has not found customer acceptance in
The discussion on EV/HV will remain incomplete without USA. Fuel cell is particularly a very interesting device because
a few words about power devices. Power device helps in- it is static, has high efficiency, and gives no emission when
creasing the vehicle range, acceleration capability at high used with hydrogen fuel. Of course, there will be emission if
speed, gradeability and maintaining a minimum state-of-charge natural gas is used as a fuel through a reformer. Table II shows
BOSE: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS 693

TABLE II
CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS FUEL CELL TYPES

the different fuel cell types and their characteristics [13]. An driving induction motor runs at constant speed. It can be shown
expanded review of power and energy storage devices for next that power electronics controlled variable speed drive with
generation electric and hybrid vehicles is given in [11]. fully open throttle can save as much as 30% energy at light load
condition. The extra cost of power electronics can be recovered
IV. IMPORTANCE OF POWER ELECTRONICS in a period depending on the cost of electricity. Light load
The importance of power electronics in industrial automa- machine operation at reduced flux (flux programming control)
tion, energy conservation and environmental pollution control can further improve drive efficiency, typically by 20%. In fact,
has already been touched in the previous sections. As the cost as the cost of power electronics goes down drastically, the use
of power electronics is falling and the system performance is of variable frequency starter in the front-end of the machine will
improving, its applications are proliferating in industrial, com- permit flux-programming control even for constant speed drive
mercial, residential, utility, aerospace and military systems. It applications. Another example application is variable speed
is expected that this trend will continue with high momentum load-proportional air-conditioner/heat pump drive that can
in this century. Modern computers, communication and elec- save as high as 30% energy in comparison with conventional
tronic systems get life blood from power electronics. Modern thermostatically-controlled system. Interestingly, because of
industrial processes, transportation and energy systems benefit high energy cost, typically 70% of room air-conditioners in
tremendously in productivity and quality enhancement with the Japanese homes use variable speed drives to save energy. On
help of power electronics. As mentioned before, the environ- the other hand, variable speed air-conditioners are practically
mentally clean sources of power, such as wind, photovoltaics unknown in the USA because of cheap energy. It has been
and fuel cells which will be highly emphasized in future, heavily estimated that typically 20% of generated energy is consumed
depend on power electronics. in lighting. It is well-known that fluorescent lamps are two to
The growing importance of power electronics which is three times more efficient than incandescent lamps. Using high
being increasingly visible now-a-days is the energy saving frequency power electronics ballast can boost fluorescent lamp
of electrical apparatus by more efficient use of electricity. efficiency typically by additional 20%. Note that energy saving
It has been estimated that roughly 15%– 20% of electricity not only gives economic benefit but the cooling burden also
consumption can be saved by extensive application of power becomes less, and there is the benefit of reduced environmental
electronics. According to EPRI (Electric Power Research pollution because of reduced generation.
Institute) estimate, 60%–65% of generated electricity in the
USA is consumed in motor drives, and majority of these drives V. ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS AND DRIVES
are for pumps and fans. Again, the processes by most of these
pump and fan drives can get benefit by variable flow control. A. Power Semiconductor Devices
The example applications are ID/FD (induced draft/forced Today’s progress in power electronics has been possible pri-
draft) fans and boiler feed pumps in fossil power station. Tradi- marily due to advances in power semiconductor devices. Apart
tionally, variable flow is obtained by throttle control while the from device evolution, the inventions in converter topologies,
694 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4, JULY 2000

PWM techniques, analytical and simulation methods, control voltage range) and IGBT (higher voltage). The introduction of
and estimation techniques, computers, digital signal processors, IGBT in the 1980’s was an important milestone in the history
ASIC chips, control hardware and software, etc. have also con- of power semiconductor devices. Its switching frequency is
tributed to this progress. It is interesting to note that histor- much higher than that of BJT, and square SOA (safe operating
ically the power electronics age began with the invention of area) permits easy snubberless operation. The power rating
glass-bulb mercury-arc rectifier at the beginning of this cen- (currently 3500 V, 1200 A) and electrical characteristics of the
tury (1901). However, the modern era of solid state power elec- device are continuously improving. IGBT intelligent power
tronics started with the invention of thyristor (or silicon-con- modules (IPM) have been available with built-in gate driver,
trolled rectifier) in the late 1950’s. Gradually, other devices, control and protection for up to several hundred kW power
such as triac, gate turn-off thyristor (GTO), bipolar power tran- rating. The present (fourth-generation) IGBT’s with trench gate
sistor (BPT or BJT), power MOSFET, insulated gate bipolar technology have conduction drop which is slightly higher than
transistor (IGBT), static induction transistor (SIT), static induc- a diode, and much higher switching speed. MCT is another
tion thyristor (SITH), MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT), and in- MOS-gated device which was commercially introduced in
tegrated gate-commutated thyristor (IGCT) were introduced. Of 1992. The present MCT (P-type with 1200 V, 500 A), however,
course, power semiconductor diode which is not included in the has limited RBSOA (reverse-biased SOA), and switching
list, is equally important. As the evolution of new and advanced speed is much inferior than IGBT. MCT’s are being promoted
devices continued, the voltage and current ratings and electrical for soft-switched converter applications (will be discussed
characteristics of the existing devices began improving dramati- later) where these inferiorities are not barriers. Currently,
cally. Power electronics evolution generally followed the device the U.S. Government, in collaboration with industries and
evolution. Again, device evolution has been heavily influenced universities, has started a large R & D program in PEBB (power
by the advances in microelectronics. Suffice it to say that if de- electronic building block) development [23]. IGCT, basically a
vice evolution stopped after invention of thyristor, power elec- hard-switched GTO, has been commercially introduced most
tronics evolution could have also stopped in a primitive age. recently [24] (currently 4500 V, 3000 A). The claimed advan-
In fact, the device evolution along with converter, control and tages over GTO are lower conduction drop, faster switching,
system evolution has been so spectacular in the last decade of monolithic bypass diode, snubberless operation, and ease of
20th century, we can define it as the “decade of power elec- series operation.
tronics." Although silicon has been the basic raw material for power
Thyristor, the general workhorse of power electronics, dom- semiconductor devices for a long time, several other raw mate-
inated the first generation of power electronics, typically in the rials, such as silicon carbide and diamond, are showing signifi-
period of 1958–1975. Even today, thyristors are indispensable cant future promise. These materials have large band gap, high
for handling very high power at low frequency for applications, carrier mobility, high electrical and thermal conductivities and
such as HVDC converters, phase-control type static VAR strong radiation hardness. Therefore, devices can be built for
compensators, cycloconverters and load-commutated inverters. higher voltage , higher temperature, higher frequency and lower
It appears that the dominance of thyristor in high power conduction drop. Unfortunately, processing of these materials is
handling will not be challenged at least in the near future. Triac very complex. SiC power devices (diode, power MOSFET and
is basically an integration of anti-parallel thyristors, and is thyristor) have already been demonstrated in laboratory, and are
suitable for low frequency resistive type load, such as heating likely to be commercially available in early part of this century.
and lighting control. The advent of high power GTO’s pushed It is expected that eventually most of silicon power devices will
the force-commutated thyristor inverters, once so popular, into disappear from the market.
obsolescence. The device continues to grow in power rating
(most recently 6000 V, 6000 A) for multi-megawatt voltage-fed B. Converters
and current-fed (with reverse blocking device) converter
applications. Slow switching of the device that causes large A converter uses a matrix of power semiconductor switches
switching loss restricts its switching frequency to be low (a to convert electrical power at high efficiency. It is interesting
few hundred Hz) in high power applications. Large dissipative to note that converter technology has generally followed the
snubbers are essential for GTO converters. Of course, regen- device evolution, although the most common type of con-
erative snubber can be used to improve converter efficiency. verter operating on utility system is the Graetz bridge which
Power MOSFET, unlike most other devices, is a majority was introduced long time ago. Diode or phase-controlled
carrier device. Therefore, its conduction drop is high for higher converters using thyristor type devices distort line current
voltage devices, but the switching loss is low. It is very popular wave, and thus create utility power quality problems. The
in low voltage high frequency applications, such as switching latter, particularly, deteriorates line power factor. Rigorous
mode power supplies (SMPS) and other battery-operated power IEEE-519 and IEC-1000 standards have been formulated to
electronic apparatus. Recently, trench-gate devices with lower restrict harmonic loading on the utility system. The IEEE-519
conduction drop have been introduced. The device does not standard limits harmonic loading at the point of common
have any competitor in future. The advent of large Darlington coupling by the consumer (but not the individual equipment),
BJT’s in the 1970’s brought great expectations in power whereas IEC-1000 restricts harmonic generation by individual
electronics. Recently, and almost suddenly, the device has pieces of equipment. Since diode and thyristor type converters
been totally ousted in competition with power MOSFET (low are very common and constantly growing on utility system,
BOSE: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS 695

various types of passive, active and hybrid filters have been

proposed to combat these problems. Of course, high power
converters can solve this problem by using multi-pulsing
technique. Active filters and static VAR compensators (SVC)
can be based on voltage-fed or current-fed converter topology,
but the former type is generally preferred because of lower cost
and improved performance. The active power line conditioner
(APLC) has the dual functions, i.e., active filtering as well as
VAR compensation. These types of apparatus are attractive for
retrofit applications to phase-controlled apparatus, but have not
found much popularity because of high cost. It is interesting to
note that recently very high power (48 MVA) SVC (static VAR
compensator) using GTO-based multi-stepped voltage-fed
converter has been installed in Japanese railway system [26].
In the 1960’s, when inverter-grade thyristors appeared, var-
ious types of voltage-fed force-commutated thyristor inverters,
such as McMurray inverter, McMurray-Bedford inverter,
Verhoef inverter, ac-switched inverter and dc-side commutated
inverter were introduced. Many other commutation techniques
were highlighted in the literature. However, this class of
inverters gradually faced obsolescence because of the advent of
self-commutated GTO’s and bipolar transistors. As mentioned
before, BJT’s became obsolete with the advent of IGBT’s.
Among the PWM techniques, sinusoidal voltage control PWM
and hysteresis-band instantaneous current control PWM be-
Fig. 6. Progression of voltage-fed converters.
came very popular. Digital computation intensive space vector
PWM (SVM) with isolated neutral loads was introduced in
the 1980’s. SVM performance is superior to sinusoidal PWM corresponding two-level converters giving large size and cost
but computation time restricts the upper limit of switching benefits. Japanese railway drive with 1500 V dc supply is an
frequency. Because of superior performance, the recent trend is example [30]. Fig. 7 shows the progression of current-fed con-
to replace current control PWM by voltage control PWM. verters. Thyristor phase-controlled rectifier/inverter is the most
Since PWM inverter can operate both in inversion and common example in this class. High power (multi-megawatt)
rectification modes, the unit can replace the phase-controlled load-commutated thyristor inverter (LCI) synchronous motor
converter on line side solving the harmonics and power factor drives where machines operate at leading power factor are
problems. Fig. 6 shows the progression of modern voltage-fed very popular in industry. With induction motor, the same type
converter topology. The diode rectifier with boost chopper of converter has been used but with a capacitor bank at the
shapes the line current to be sinusoidal at unity power factor, machine terminal for load commutation. Converters can again
but it is nonregenerative. A double-sided PWM converter be multi-stepped (12 or 24 pulse), as mentioned before, to
system, in addition, gives regeneration capability which is reduce harmonics in line and load currents, but the problem
important for a drive. The topology in this system can be either of poor displacement factor remains. Force-commutated cur-
two-level or three-level (neutral point clamped or NPC). In rent-fed auto-sequential commutated inverters (ASCI) have
fact, higher number of levels is also possible. Again, each been used for induction motor drives, but recently, they have
unit can have half-bridge, H-bridge, or three-phase bridge become obsolete. Double-sided PWM current-fed converters
configuration. Three-level topology, used in high voltage using self-controlled reverse-blocking devices have essentially
high power applications, gives better harmonic performance the same features as those of voltage-fed topology [Fig. 6(b)].
without increasing PWM switching frequency. Recently, However, the voltage-fed topology is superior and far more
attempts have been made to replace multi-megawatt thyristor popular in industrial drive applications.
phase-controlled cycloconverters for machine drives with In the recent literature, we have seen an enormous growth
the GTO-based three-level converter system. An example of soft switching technology [31]. The traditional converters
is 10-MVA three-level converter—synchronous motor drive with self-controlled devices use hard switching principle. Soft
for rolling mill drive introduced by Mitshubishi [29] a few switching of devices at zero voltage or zero current (or both)
years ago. The system is more economical than cyclocon- tends to minimize or eliminate device switching loss, thus
verter drive with hybrid APLC. Since IGBT’s have higher giving improvement of converter efficiency. Besides, the other
switching frequency, and their voltage and current ratings advantages are: elimination of snubber loss, improvement
are increasing recently, there is a growing trend to replace of device reliability, less dv/dt stress on machine insulation,
two-level GTO converters in the lower end by three-level IGBT reduced EMI problem, and elimination of machine bearing
converters. Again, with higher IGBT voltage rating, there is current problem and voltage boost effect at machine terminal
also a trend to replace three-level IGBT converters by the with long cable. Of course, some of these problems can be
696 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4, JULY 2000

Both induction and synchronous machines have been

widely used in variable speed drives. Although the cage type
induction motor is most commonly used in wide power range,
wound-rotor machines with slip power recovery control (known
as static Kramer and Scherbius drives) have been generally
used in limited speed range multi-megawatt drive applications.
Because of expensive machine and poor system performance,
particularly with phase-controlled converters , these drives are
recently being disfavored except for specialized applications.
Synchronous machines can be classified as reluctance machine,
permanent magnet (PM) machine, and wound-field machine.
The PM machines can again be classified as surface and inte-
rior magnet types, radial and axial field types, and sinusoidal
and trapezoidal flux types. Although PM machine is more
expensive (particularly with high energy NdFeB magnet) and
require absolute position sensor, it has higher power density
and improved efficiency that reduces the life cycle cost. While
the trapezoidal and sinusoidal surface magnet machines are
essentially restricted to constant torque region speed control,
the interior permanent magnet (IPM) machines can extend
operation into field-weakening region. Synchronous reluctance
machines often provide low cost and robust solution, and are
Fig. 7. Progression of current-fed converters.
suitable for high speed applications. Design of this class of
machines has gone through a lot of improvement in recent
solved by using low-pass LC filter at the machine terminal. years. It was mentioned before that wound-field synchronous
Soft-switched converters can be generally classified as resonant machines are very popular in the highest power range. Although
link dc, resonant pole dc, and high frequency ac link systems. somewhat expensive compared to induction motor, it has the
The resonant link dc can be voltage-fed or current-fed type. The advantages of programmable power factor control (leading,
former again can be classified as free-resonance or quasires- lagging or unity), improved efficiency and reduced moment of
onance types, or active or passive clamp types. Soft-switched inertia. Programmability of power factor makes the converter
high frequency ac link system can be resonant (parallel or economical and further boosts the drive efficiency.
series) or nonresonant type. This class has the advantages of The discussion on machines and drives will remain incom-
transformer coupling although the number of components is plete without some discussion on switched reluctance machine
larger. Unfortunately, in spite of technology evolution for more (SRM) drives which have received so much attention in the re-
than a decade, soft-switched converters have hardly shown in cent literature. This “electronic motor” is claimed to be simple,
the market place. In spite of the claimed potential advantages, rugged, low-cost, fault-tolerant, and can operate at high speed.
the need of extra components and control complexity are However, there are pulsating torque and acoustic noise prob-
possibly the reasons of their disfavor. lems, and absolute position sensor is required unlike induction
motor drive. Of course, position estimation and pulsating torque
C. Machines and Drives compensation techniques have been proposed in the literature.
Electrical machine is the workhorse in a drive system. Its evo- Unfortunately, machines can not be operated in parallel on a
lution over the past century has been slow and much less dra- single converter, bypass operation of converter(in case of con-
matic than that of power semiconductor devices and converter verter fault) is not possible unlike induction motor drive with
circuits. Electrically, mechanically and thermally, a machine is a 60 Hz supply, and estimation of feedback signals is difficult. In
very complex system. The advent of modern digital computers, spite of large commercialization effort, it is expected that SRM
improved modeling, simulation and CAD programs, and avail- drives will be restricted to very specialized applications.
ability of new materials have contributed to higher power den-
sity, higher efficiency, improved reliability, reduced cost, and D. Control and Estimation
improved mechanical and thermal design of the machine in the Control and estimation of high performance ac drives have
recent years. Advanced studies related to machine modeling, been a very fascinating and challenging area of R & D in the
control, state and parameter estimation, etc. are the exciting recent years, and literature in this area is extensive [32]. The
R&D topics today for drive system engineers. Although dc ma- advent of powerful microcomputers, digital signal processors,
chines have been traditionally used for variable speed appli- application specific IC’s, personal computers, CAD and sim-
cations, and yet count as majority today, the advent of solid ulation tools, AI techniques, and advancement of control and
state variable frequency inverters, improved power semicon- estimation theories has continuously extended the frontier of
ductor devices, microprocessors, DSP’s, powerful ASIC chips, control and estimation techniques. In this section, control and
and advanced control and estimation techniques gradually en- estimation related to induction motor drive only will be briefly
hanced the application trend of variable frequency ac drives. reviewed. Although simple volts/Hz control is known for a long
BOSE: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS 697

time, and is yet extensively used in low performance industrial limitation and parameter variation problem are similar to stator
drives, the advent of vector or field-oriented control since the flux oriented vector control. Recently, fuzzy and neuro-fuzzy
1970s brought renaissance in modern high performance control control techniques have been proposed to alleviate the perfor-
of ac drives. It has been widely accepted for applications, such as mance of DTC control.
paper and textile mills, metal rolling mills, servos and machine In a high performance control where the machine parameter
tools, elevators, electric vehicles, etc. where dc machine-like variation and load torque disturbance can be problems, the con-
performances are demanded. In spite of complexity, this type of troller parameters (and sometimes the control structure) can be
control is expected to be universal for ac drives in future. Vector varied adaptively to give the desired stability, robustness and
control can be classified into indirect and direct methods, and dead-beat response. Various adaptive control techniques, such
can be based on rotor or stator flux orientation. Currently, the as self-tuning regulator (STR), H-infinity control, MRAC and
indirect method with rotor flux orientation is most popular in sliding mode control (SMC) or variable structure system (VSS)
industrial applications. A problem in indirect vector control is have been proposed in the literature. With vector control in the
detuning of slip gain (Ks) due to machine parameter variation inner loop, the transient model becomes dc machine-like, and
that causes the coupling effect. For a machine with unknown then it becomes much easier to apply adaptive control in the
parameters, the initial or off-line tuning can be easily made by outer loop.
automated parameter measurement by inverter-injected signals. In the recent years, intelligent control based on AI (artificial
This also helps self-commissioning of a drive where tuning of intelligence) techniques is showing high promise for advanced
feedback control parameters is also required. On-line tuning of ac drive applications [33]. AI can be classified into expert
Ks is more difficult and has been attempted by methods, such system (ES), fuzzy logic (FL), artificial neural network (ANN)
as injection of PRB (pseudo-random binary) signal in machine and genetic algorithm (GA). The ES, based on Boolean algebra,
-axis and observation on -axis, extended Kalman filter pa- uses “hard” or precise computation, whereas FL, ANN and GA
rameter estimation, parameter estimation by solving machine use “soft” or approximate computation. With a control based
- model, MRAC (model referencing adaptive control) and on AI, a system is often said to be “intelligent,” “autonomous,”
fuzzy MRAC methods. The direct vector control with rotor flux “adaptive,” “self-organizing” or “learning.” A plant model is
orientation is much less parameter sensitive if the flux vector often unknown, or ill-defined. Or, the system may be nonlinear,
is estimated from the machine terminal voltages and currents complex, multivariable with parameter variation problem.
(voltage model). However, zero or near-zero speed operation An intelligent control can identify the model, if necessary,
requires flux vector estimation from speed and current signals and give predicted performance even with wide range of
(current model or Blaschke equation) where parameter variation parameter variation. In ES, the expertise of a human being in
problem becomes serious. In a wide range speed control with a certain domain is embedded into a computer program. The
this method, the voltage and current models can be hybrided for ES has been applied in auto-tuning of P-I control, off-line and
flux estimation. The stator flux oriented direct vector control has on-line diagnostics in equipment, automated design, simulation
the advantage that the flux vector estimated by voltage model and test of power electronic systems. Fuzzy logic, unlike
is sensitive to stator resistance only which can be compensated Boolean logic, deals with problems that have vagueness or
somewhat easily. However, in this method, there is inherent cou- imprecision, and uses membership functions and fuzzy rule
pling effect, and therefore, decoupling current compensation is table to solve a problem. FL has been applied in adaptive
required in the flux control loop. control for parameter variation, robust control with load
Speed sensorless vector control is a popular R & D topic in the disturbance, nonlinear compensation, estimation of distorted
recent literature. Speed estimation by processing the machine waves, state and parameter estimation, modeling of machine,
voltage and current signals has been attempted by methods, and tuning off-line P-I control in self commissioning of drive.
such as slip and stator frequency estimation, solving the dy- Fig. 6 gives an example of FL application in variable speed
namic machine model, slot harmonic voltages, MRAC method, wind generation system [37]. The wind turbine is coupled to
speed adaptive flux observer (Luenberger observer), and ex- an induction generator which generates power for the grid
tended Kalman filter. Very recently, it has been attempted by through a double-sided PWM IGBT converter system. The
injecting auxiliary signals through the inverter. Although speed machine speed is controlled in regenerative mode to track
sensorless vector- controlled drives are available commercially, the wind velocity with indirect vector control, whereas the
speed estimation at zero speed or near zero speed yet remains a line-side converter uses direct vector control to pump power
challenge. to the utility grid at unity power factor. The system uses three
A type of performance-enhanced scalar control, called direct fuzzy controllers. The controller FLC-3 gives robustness to
torque and flux control (known as DTC) which was proposed speed control loop against the pulsating torque of vertical
in the 1980’s, is receiving a lot of attention in the recent liter- turbine and shock by wind vortex. The controllers FLC-1 and
ature. The DTC control gives adequately fast response, has the FLC-2 maximize the system power output by on-line search,
simplicity of implementation due to absence of close loop cur- as explained in Fig. 8. FLC-1 continuously tracks the wind
rent control, traditional PWM algorithm and vector transforma- velocity with the machine speed to maximize the turbine
tion. However, the inherent demerits of limit cycle operation, aerodynamic efficiency, whereas FLC-2 optimizes the machine
such as pulsating torque, pulsating flux and additional machine efficiency by on-line programming of the flux. Fuzzy control
harmonic loss exist. Since the torque and stator flux vector are in FLC-1 and FLC-2 is justified because it improves speed of
estimated from machine voltages and currents, the low speed convergence and permits use of noisy signals. ANN is a more
698 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4, JULY 2000

(a)

(b)
Fig. 8. (a) Fuzzy logic based control of variable speed wind generation system. (b) System operation with fuzzy controllers FLC-1 and FLC-2.

generic form of AI and tries to emulate the biological neural tion, PWM techniques, zero-phase delay harmonic filtering
network of human brain. It can be generally classified into of waves, waveform FFT signature analysis, on-line diag-
feedforward and feedback or recurrent type. Although many nostics, dynamic model emulation of machines, and inverse
different topologies of ANN are proposed in the literature, back dynamics-based drive control, feedback signal estimation, etc.
propagation or multiple perceptron type feedforward topology ANN-based intelligent control seems to have extremely bright
is most commonly used. This type of network basically maps future. Fig. 8 gives an example of neural network application
input-output static patterns using associative memory property. in an inverse dynamics based adaptive control of a multiple
Dynamical systems can be emulated by feedforward ANN degree of freedom robotic manipulator [41] where it is intended
with delayed inputs, outputs or feedback, or by recurrent ANN. to control a multi-dimensional trajectory with the respective
Various off-line and on-line training methods of ANN have command signals. The N-degree of freedom plant is nonlinear
been proposed in literature. Recurrent ANN’s are somewhat and have mutual coupling. In the beginning, a feedforward
difficult to train, but Kalman filter based off-line and on-line ANN is trained off-line to emulate the plant model. The ANN is
training have shown a lot of promise. The ANN’s have been then used in feedforward manner to cancel the plant dynamics.
used in one or multi-dimensional nonlinear function genera- The feedback loop detects the tracking error due to training
BOSE: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS 699

Fig. 9. Neural network based inverse dynamics adaptive control.

Fig. 10. Speed sensorless stator flux oriented vector control with neuro-fuzzy based performance enhancement.

imperfection and parameter variation, and generates the sup- [42] for electric vehicle that uses fuzzy and neural techniques
plementary corrective signals, as shown, which can be used to enhance the drive performance. The drive is started with the
for on-line training of the ANN. A simpler version of Fig. 9 current model (or Blaschke equation) but without speed sensor,
can be used in industrial drive. Fig. 10 shows an example of and then transferred to direct vector control at zero speed but
a speed sensorless stator flux-oriented vector-controlled drive finite torque (i.e., slip frequency). The voltage model based
700 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4, JULY 2000

stator flux vector estimation uses programmable cascaded predicted that phase-controlled converters which are currently
low-pass filters (PCLPF) which permit integration of voltage so popular on utility line will eventually phase extinction, thus
down to zero speed. A quasifuzzy stator resiatance estimator solving the power quality and power factor problems perma-
provides correction to the flux estimator. The neuro-fuzzy nently. High power multi-terminal HVDC systems, rolling mill
controller permits flux programming efficiency optimization drives, pump and compressor drives, static VAR compressors
control [similar to FLC-2 of Fig. 8(a)] of the machine where an in flexible ac transmission (FACT) systems will use voltage-fed
ANN is used to replace the fuzzy controller. inverters with these devices. Soft-switching converters may
appear briefly, but will then disappear, except in specialized
applications. Traditional matrix converters operating on utility
VI. CONCLUSION AND PROGNOSIS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY line do not show future promise because of larger count of
The paper gives a brief but comprehensive review of global power semiconductors and expensive ac capacitor bank on the
energy scenario, future depletion of fossil and nuclear fuels, line. We expect that the converter technology will have the
environmental pollution problem, and mitigation of environ- similar trend as VLSI technology, and the present generation of
mental problems with particular emphasis of energy conser- converter circuit designers will tend to disappear. Future con-
vation with the help of power electronics. Electric/hybrid ve- verters will have automated computer-aided design and built as
hicle technology that plays an important role in fuel saving and integrated and intelligent building blocks, similar to the trend
pollution control has been reviewed in this context. The ad- of micro chips. Future power electronics R & D activity will be
vances in power electronics that includes power semiconductor essentially confined to devices and systems. With drastic cost
devices, converters, machines, drives, control and estimation reduction, almost every ac machine (both variable and constant
have been reviewed with some emphasis on modern intelligent speed) will be eventually coupled with a front-end converter.
control methods. Variable frequency starting (solid state starter) of a constant
Finally, it may be possible to give some prognosis for the speed machine will solve power quality problem as well as im-
21st century trend in power electronics. Of course, our present prove operational efficiency at light-load by flux programming
knowledge and trends can only be extrapolated for the future. control (the idea is similar to Nola controller). At the lower end
Any breakthrough invention, like invention of transistor or of power, “intelligent machines” will be built with integrated
artificial neural network, can alter the entire scenario. Again, of converter and control in the same frame. Thomas Edison’s
course, these are the author’s own opinion based on his knowl- favorite dc machine will eventually face total demise in this
edge and experience. First, it can be predicted with confidence century. It appears that switched reluctance drives will not be
that power electronics applications will spread everywhere—in able to stand in competition with induction and PM machine
every phase of industrial, commercial, residential, utility, drives for general industrial applications. Its application will
transportation, aerospace and military environments. The main be restricted to a few specialized applications, as mentioned
reason is drastic cost and size reduction with improvement of before. Reduced cost of high energy magnet and improved
performance and reliability of future power electronics systems. efficiency will promote increased volume of PM machine
Besides general process applications, energy saving will be drives, particularly when energy cost increases. Considering
the important motivation, as mentioned before. As our energy the present trend, it appears that the popular volts/Hz control
demand tends to grow further to improve our living standard, of ac drive will disappear and sensorless vector control will
more rigid environmental regulations will tend to drive up be universally accepted, except for high precision speed and
the energy cost, and thus will promote more conservation of position control systems that require near zero speed operation.
energy. With the present research trend, the cost of photovoltaic The simplicity of volts/Hz control and complexity of sensorless
energy will come down substantially. Environmental regula- vector control with powerful DSP are essentially transparent
tions will promote photovoltaic and wind energy extensively. to the user. Advanced intelligent control and estimation based
The trend in wind energy is already evident. Our future hope on fuzzy logic and neural network will find dramatically in-
of environmentally clean and safe fusion energy appears very creasing acceptanace in power electronic systems. ANN-based
uncertain at this point. A new and break-through approach is advanced control and estimation, embedded in ASIC chips,
needed in this direction. The battery technology is expected particularly shows very high promise.
to have a break-through promoting widespread applications of
electric and hybrid vehicles in future. The scarcity of IC engine REFERENCES
fuels (and correspondingly high cost), and the urge to minimize [1] G. R. Davis, “Energy for planet earth,” Scientific American, pp. 1–10,
urban pollution problem, are bound to promote EV/HV in the 1991.
[2] U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States,
market eventually even with the expensive and bulky batteries. 114th ed., 1998.
Of course, extensive R & D will significantly improve other en- [3] S. Rahman and A. D. Castro, “Environmental impacts of electricity gen-
eration: A global perspective,” IEEE Trans. Energy Conv., vol. 10, pp.
ergy storage and power devices. Silicon carbide, and ultimately 307–313, June 1995.
the diamond power semiconductor devices, will usher another [4] J. R. Roth, Long term global energy issues, in Industrial Plasma Engi-
renaissance in power electronics—pushing the silicon material neering, Institute of Physics Publication, Philadelphia, PA, vol. 1, 1995.
[5] R. L. Kane et al., “Global climate change: A discussion of major uncer-
essentially into control microelectronics only. High frequency, tainties,” in Proc. Amer. Power Conf., vol. 53-1, Apr. 1991, pp. 646–652.
high temperature, low conduction drop and improved radiation [6] J. Jaydev, “Harnessing the wind,” IEEE Spectrum, pp. 78–83, Nov. 1995.
[7] W. Sweet, “Power and energy,” IEEE Spectrum, pp. 62–67, Jan. 1999.
hardness of the new power devices will boost efficiency of the [8] E. H. Lyson, “Photovolts for villages,” IEEE Spectrum, pp. 34–39, Oct.
increasingly popular voltage-fed converters. It can be easily 1994.
BOSE: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ADVANCES IN POWER ELECTRONICS 701

[9] Partnership for Next Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) Program Plan, [42] B. K. Bose and N. R. Patel, “A sensorless stator flux oriented vector
July 1994. controlled induction motor drive with neuro-fuzzy based performance
[10] R. K. Bennet, “Electric cars? Fahgedaboudit!,” Reader’s Dig., pp. enhancement,” in Proc. IEEE/IAS Ann. Meet. Conf., 1997, pp. 393–400.
125–129, Jan. 1998. [43] L. E. B. da Silva, B. K. Bose, and J. O. P. Pinto, “Recurrent neural net-
[11] B. K. Bose, M. H. Kim, and M. D. Kankam, “Power and energy storage work based implementation of a programmable cascaded low-pass filter
devices for next generation hybrid electric vehicle,” in Proc. IEEE 31st used in stator flux synthesis of vector-controlled induction motor drive,”
Intersoc. Energy Conv. Eng. Conf., Aug. 1996, pp. 143–149. IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 46, pp. 662–665, Apr. 1999.
[12] D. Coates, Advanced battery systems for electric vehicle applications, [44] P. Vas, Sensorless Vector and Direct Torque Control. Oxford, U.K.:
in Amer. Chem. Soc. Mag., pp. 2.273–2.278, 1993. Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.
[13] J. H. Hirschenhofer, Latest progress in fuel cell technology, in IEEE AES
Syst. Mag., Nov. 18–27, 1992.
[14] X. Xu and V. A. Sankaram, “Power electronics in electric vehicles: Chal-
lenges and opportunities,” in IEEE/IAS Annu. Meet. Conf. Rec., 1993,
pp. 463–468.
[15] B. E. Bose, Power Electron. Variable Frequency Devices. New York:
IEEE Press, 1997. Bimal K. Bose (S’59–M’60–SM’78–F’89–LF’96)
[16] , “Power electronics—A technology review,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 80, received the B.E. degree from the Bengal Engi-
pp. 1301–1304, Aug. 1992. neering College, Calcutta, India, the M.S. degree
[17] , “Variable frequency drives—Technology and applications,” in from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the
Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Ind. Elec., Budapest, Hungary, 1993, pp. 1–18. Ph.D. degree from Calcutta University, Calcutta, in
[18] Bose, “Power electronics and motion control—Technology status
1956, 1960, and 1966, respectively.
and recent trends,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 29, pp. 902–909,
Sept./Oct. 1993. He currently holds the Condra Chair of Excellence
[19] , “Trends in power electronics and drives,” in Proc. Conf. Ind. in Power Electronics at the University of Tennessee,
Drives. Knoxville, where he is responsible for organizing the
[20] , “Evaluation of modern power semiconductor devices and future power electronics teaching and research program for
trends of converters,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 28, pp. 403–413, the last thirteen years. He is also the Distinguished
Mar./Apr. 1992. Scientist of EPRI-Power Electronics Applications Center, Knoxville; Honorary
[21] , “Recent advances in power electronics,” IEEE Trans. Power Elec- Professor of Shanghai University, China University of Mining and Technology
tron., vol. 7, pp. 2–16, Jan. 1992. and Xian Mining Institute (also Honorary Director of its Electrical Engineering
[22] B. J. Baliga, “Trends in power semiconductor devices,” IEEE Trans. Institute), China; and Senior Adviser of Beijing Power Electronics Research and
Electron Devices, vol. 43, pp. 1717–1723, Oct. 1996. Development Center, China. Early in his career for eleven years, he served as a
[23] NAVY Broad Agency Announcement for PEBB, , May 16 1995. faculty member at Calcutta University (Bengal Engineering College). In 1971,
[24] P. K. Steimer et al., “IGCT—A new emerging technology for high power he joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, as Associate Professor
low cost inverters,” in Proc. IEEE IAS Ann. Meet. Conf. Rec., 1997, pp. of Electrical Engineering and conducted its teaching and research program. In
1592–1599. 1976, he joined General Electric Corporate Research and Development, Sch-
[25] B. J. Baliga, “Power discrete devices: Future structures and materials,” enectady, NY, as Research Engineer and served there for eleven years. He has
in Proc. IEEE FEPPCON III, July 1998, pp. 275–280. served as a consultant in more than ten industries. His research interests extend
[26] M. Hirakawa et al., “Self-commutated SVC for electric railways,” in across the whole spectrum of power electronics, and specifically include power
Proc. Int. Conf. Power Electron. Drives Syst., Singapore, 1995, pp. converters; AC drives; microcomputer control; EV drives; and expert system,
732–737. fuzzy logic and neural network applications in power electronics and drives. He
[27] D. Divan and D. Boroyevich, “Future converters, circuits, and system has published more than 150 papers, and holds 21 U.S. patents. He is author and
integration,” in Proc. IEEE FEPPCON III, 1998, pp. 327–333.
editor of a number of books that include Power Electronics and AC Drives (En-
[28] B. K. Bose, “Energy, environment, and progress in power electronics,”
glewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986), Adjustable Speed AC Drive Systems
in Proc. Jpn. IEE/IAS Meeting, Invited Lecture, Apr. 1997.
[29] H. Okayama et al., “Large capacity large high performance three-level (New York: IEEE Press, 1981), Microcomputer Control of Power Electronics
GTO inverter systems for steel main rolling mill drives,” in Proc. IEEE and Drives (New York: IEEE Press, 1987) and Modern Power Electronics (New
IAS Ann. Meet. Conf. Res., 1996, pp. 174–179. York: IEEE Press, 1992), and Power Electronics and Variable Frequency Drives
[30] T. Ohmae and K. Nakamura, “Hitachi’s roles in the area of power (New York: IEEE Press, 1997). The book Power Electronics and AC Drives has
electronics for transportation,” in Proc. IEEE IECON Conf., 1993, pp. been translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, and is widely used as a
714–719. graduate level text book
[31] T. S. Wu et al., “A review of soft switched dc-ac converters,” in Dr. Bose received the IEEE Industry Applications Society’s Outstanding
IEEE/IAS Ann. Meet. Conf., 1996, pp. 1133–1143. Achievement Award for “outstanding contributions in the application of
[32] B. K. Bose, “High performance control and estimation in ac drives,” in electricity to industry” in 1993; IEEE Industrial Electronics Society’s Eugene
Proc. IEEE IECON Conf., 1997, pp. 377–385. Mittelmann Award in “recognition of outstanding contributions to research and
[33] , “Expert system, fuzzy logic, and neural network applications development in the field of power electronics and a lifetime achievement in
in power electronics and motion control,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 82, pp. the area of motor drive” in 1994; IEEE Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award
1303–1323, Aug. 1994. for “outstanding achievements in power electronics and drives technology”
[34] B. K. Bose, “Intelligent control and estimation in power electronics and in 1994; IEEE Lamme Gold Medal for “contributions in power electronics
drives,” in Proc. IEEE-IEMDC Conf., 1997, p. TA2-6. and drives” in 1996; and IEEE Continuing Education Award for “exemplary
[35] G. C. D. Sousa and B. K. Bose, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 30, pp. and sustained contributions to continuing education” in 1997, the IEEE
34–44, Jan./Feb. 1994. Millennium Medal in 2000, and the Premchand Roychand Scholarship and
[36] G. C. D. Sousa and B. K. Bose, “Fuzzy logic based on-line efficiency Mouat Gold Medal from Calcutta University, in 1968 and 1970, respectively,
optimization control of an indirect vector controlled induction motor for his research contributions, and the GE Publication Award, Silver Patent
drive,” in Proc. IEEE/IECON Conf., 1193, pp. 1168–1174. Medal, and a number of IEEE prize paper awards. He was the Guest Editor
[37] M. G. Simoes, B. K. Bose, and R. J. Spiegel, “Design and performance
of the Proceedings of the IEEE Special Issue on Power Electronics and
evaluation of a fuzzy logic based variable speed wind generation
system,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 33, pp. 956–965, July/Aug. Motion Control, August 1994. He is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America.
1997. He has served the IEEE in various capacities that include Chairman of IE
[38] M. G. Simoes and B. K. Bose, “Neural network based estimation of Society Power Electronics Council, Associate Editor of IE Transactions,
feedback signals for a vector controlled induction motor drive,” IEEE IEEE-IECON Power Electronics Chairman, Chairman of IAS Industrial Power
Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 31, pp. 620–629, May/June 1995. Converter Committee, IAS member in Neural Network Council, and various
[39] G. Kaplan, “Industrial electronics,” IEEE Spectrum: Technol. 2000, pp. other professional committees. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the
104–105, Jan. 2000. PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE (1995–present), and has served in a large number of
[40] B. K. Bose, “Recent advances and trends in power electronics and national and international professional organizations. He was a Distinguished
drives,” in Proc. NORPIE Workshop, Aug. 1998, pp. 170–181. Lecturer in IEEE-IA and IE Societies. In 1995, he initiated Power Electronics
[41] K. Warwick, G. W. Irwin, and K. J. Hunt, Neural Networks for Control for Universal Brotherhood (PEUB), an international organization to promote
and Systems. London, U.K.: IEE, 1992. humanitarian activities of the power electronics community.

View publication stats