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Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications

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A special issue of Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This special issue belongs to the section "Electrical Machines and Drives".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 8957

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tamer Kamel

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Guest Editor

Power Electronics and Renewable Energy, University of Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK
Interests: power electronics reliability modelling and fault diagnosis; renewable energy applications; transportation electrification; artificial intelligence applications in electrical power systems; smart grid implementations and applications

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Power electronics are considered, currently and ongoingly, the key driving elements for innovation in a broad range of application areas, including machinery drives, renewable energy conversion, transportation electrification, smart grid implementation, and energy storage systems.

The empowering role of power electronics across these areas leads to higher-technology and higher-value advantages for their systems; however, advanced design criteria, novel topology architecture, and reliable control techniques are required to meet such demanding requirements.

In view of that, The Guest Editors are inviting submissions to this Special Issue of Machines, titled “Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications”. This Special Issue will focus on innovative architecture and implementation of power electronics in different applied sectors covering their modelling, designing, controlling, or protection. Submissions may include original research articles or comprehensive reviews.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

Innovative power converter design and topologies;
Advanced control techniques for power converters;
Reliability modelling of power electronic converters;
Application of power electronics in distributed generation and renewable energy sources;
Power converter implementations for grid-tied and smart grids;
Power electronics for energy storage system;
Application of power converters in electrifying the transport;
Utilization of artificial intelligence in industrial power electronic systems.

We look forward to your submissions.

Dr. Tamer Kamel
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

power converters topologies
power converters for renewable energy sources
fault diagnosis of power converters and their reliability
grid-tided power electronics
smart grid implementation
distributed power generation
innovative control for power converters
AI applications in power systems
transportation electrification

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 4361 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Multiport/Multiphase DC/DC Converter with Coupled Inductors for Hybrid Energy Storage Systems Suitable for Aircraft Applications

by Abdullahi Abubakar, Christian Klumpner and Patrick Wheeler

Machines 2026, 14(5), 490; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14050490 - 27 Apr 2026

Viewed by 425

Abstract

This paper proposes a low weight hybrid battery–supercapacitor energy storage system interfaced with bidirectional DC/DC converters with high power/current capability for aircraft applications. The supercapacitor converter having high power uses two pairs of interleaved coupled inductors to reduce the overall current ripple whilst increasing the converter’s power density. Due to the sensitive performance to saturation of the coupled inductors, a phase current balancing strategy is proposed to counter the effect current imbalance in the channels that would cause saturation degrading overall performance. A power management strategy (PMS) is implemented along with a low pass filter to separate the supercapacitor high frequency power component reference from the battery low frequency power component; therefore, separating the energy and power requirement for the energy storage system contributing to minimizing its weight whilst ensuring the current/power stresses are correctly handled. The validity of the system design is validated by a series of transient tests is conducted both in a simulation model as well as experimentally. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications)

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25 pages, 1852 KB

Open AccessArticle

Design of a High-Gain Common-Grounded ZVT DC-DC Converter with Sustained Soft Switching

by Aftab Ali Samejo, Jianfei Chen, Yigang He, Andres Annuk, Imad Hussain and Adeel Bashir

Machines 2026, 14(5), 485; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14050485 - 26 Apr 2026

Viewed by 240

Abstract

To address the performance requirements of power interface converters in fuel cell vehicles, a high-voltage gain DC–DC converter with a common-ground structure and zero-voltage-transition (ZVT) operation is proposed. The converter employs two interleaved boost cells in an input-parallel output-series (IPOS) configuration to achieve low input-current ripple and high voltage gain. A single auxiliary circuit enables soft-switching for all switches during turn-on and turn-off, while diodes operate under zero-current switching (ZCS), reducing switching and reverse-recovery losses. In addition, voltage stress across devices is limited to half of the output voltage, allowing the use of lower-rated components. A 1 kW prototype operating at 50 V input and 400 V output at 50 kHz is experimentally validated. The converter achieves efficiency above 92.5%, with a peak of 95.46% and up to 97.41% at higher input voltages, while maintaining stable output performance. These results demonstrate the suitability of the proposed converter for high-efficiency fuel cell-based applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications)

22 pages, 4835 KB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Voltage Balancing Algorithm and Implementation of a Single-Phase Modular Multilevel Converter for Power Electronics Applications

by Valentine Obiora, Wenzhi Zhou, Wissam Jamal, Chitta Saha, Soroush Faramehr and Petar Igic

Machines 2025, 13(10), 955; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines13100955 - 16 Oct 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1186

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative primary control strategy for a modular multilevel converter aimed at enhancing reliability and dynamic performance for power electronics applications. The proposed method utilises interactive modelling tools, including MATLAB Simulink (2022b) for algorithm design and Typhoon HIL (2023.2) for real-time validation. The circuit design and component analysis were carried out using Proteus Design Suite (v8.17) and LTSpice (v17) to optimise the hardware implementation. A power hardware-in-the-loop experimental test setup was built to demonstrate the robustness and adaptability of the control algorithm under fixed load conditions. The simulation results were compared and verified against the experimental data. Additionally, the proposed control strategy was successfully validated through experiments, demonstrating its effectiveness in simplifying control development through efficient co-simulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications)

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28 pages, 10200 KB

Open AccessArticle

Real-Time Temperature Estimation of the Machine Drive SiC Modules Consisting of Parallel Chips per Switch for Reliability Modelling and Lifetime Prediction

by Tamer Kamel, Olamide Olagunju and Temitope Johnson

Machines 2025, 13(8), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines13080689 - 5 Aug 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1772

Abstract

This paper presents a new methodical procedure to monitor in real time the junction temperature of SiC Power MOSFET modules of parallel-connected chips utilized in machine drive systems to develop their reliability modelling and predict their lifetime. The paper implements the on-line measurements of temperature-sensitive electrical parameters (TSEP) approach, particularly the quasi-threshold voltage and the on-state drain to source voltage, to estimate the junction temperature in real time. The proposed procedure firstly applied computational fluid dynamics analysis on the module under study to determine the chip which undergoes the maximum junction temperature during typical operation of the module. Then, a calibration phase, using double-pulse tests on the selected chip, is used to generate look-up tables to relate the TSEPs under study to the junction temperature. Next, the real-time estimation of junction temperature was accomplished during the on-line operation of the three-phase inverter, taking into account the induced distortion/noises due to operation of the parallel-connected chips in the module. After that, a comparison between the two TSEPs under study was provided to demonstrate their advantages/drawbacks. Finally, reliability modelling was developed to predict the lifetime of the studied module based on the estimated junction temperature under a predetermined mission profile. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications)

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28 pages, 9836 KB

Open AccessArticle

Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Converter Topology for a PV Connected to a Medium-Voltage Grid

by Hammad Alnuman, Essam Hussain, Mokhtar Aly, Emad M. Ahmed and Ahmed Alshahir

Machines 2025, 13(7), 540; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines13070540 - 21 Jun 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3127

Abstract

When connecting a renewable energy source to a medium-voltage grid, it has to fulfil grid codes and be able to work in a medium-voltage range (>10 kV). Multilevel converters (MLCs) are recognized for their low total harmonic distortion (THD) and ability to work at high voltage compared to other converter types, making them ideal for applications connected to medium-voltage grids whilst being compliant with grid codes and voltage ratings. Cascaded H-bridge multilevel converters (CHBs-MLC) are a type of MLC topology, and they does not need any capacitors or diodes for clamping like other MLC topologies. One of the problems in these types of converters involves the double-frequency harmonics in the DC linking voltage and power, which can increase the size of the capacitors and converters. The use of line frequency transformers for isolation is another factor that increases the system’s size. This paper proposes an isolated CHBs-MLC topology that effectively overcomes double-line frequency harmonics and offers isolation. In the proposed topology, each DC source (renewable energy source) supplies a three-phase load rather than a single-phase load that is seen in conventional MLCs. This is achieved by employing a multi-winding high-frequency transformer (HFT). The primary winding consists of a winding connected to the DC sources. The secondary windings consist of three windings, each supplying one phase of the load. This configuration reduces the DC voltage link ripples, thus improving the power quality. Photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy sources are considered as the DC sources. A case study of a 1.0 MW and 13.8 kV photovoltaic (PV) system is presented, considering two scenarios: variations in solar irradiation and 25% partial panel shedding. The simulations and design results show the benefits of the proposed topology, including a seven-fold reduction in capacitor volume, a 2.7-fold reduction in transformer core volume, a 50% decrease in the current THD, and a 30% reduction in the voltage THD compared to conventional MLCs. The main challenge of the proposed topology is the use of more switches compared to conventional MLCs. However, with advancing technology, the cost is expected to decrease over time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications)

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26 pages, 2815 KB

Open AccessArticle

Fractional-Order LC Three-Phase Inverter Using Fractional-Order Virtual Synchronous Generator Control and Adaptive Rotational Inertia Optimization

by Junhua Xu, Chunwei Wang, Yue Lan, Bin Liu, Yingheng Li and Yongzeng Xie

Machines 2025, 13(6), 472; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines13060472 - 29 May 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1288

Abstract

The application of fractional calculus in power electronics modeling provides an innovative method for improving inverter performance. This paper presents a three-phase inverter topology with fractional-order LC filter characteristics, analyzes its frequency response, and develops mathematical models in both stationary and rotating reference frames. Based on these models, a dual closed-loop decoupling control strategy for voltage and current is designed to enhance system stability and dynamic performance. In the power control loop, fractional-order virtual synchronous generator control (FOVSG) is employed. Observations show that increasing the fractional-order of the rotor leads to a higher transient frequency variation rate. To address this, an adaptive rotational inertia control scheme is integrated into the FOVSG structure (ADJ-FOVSG), enabling real-time adjustment of inertia to suppress transient frequency fluctuations. Experimental results demonstrate that when the reference active power changes, ADJ-FOVSG effectively suppresses power overshoot. Compared to traditional VSG, ADJ-FOVSG reduces the power regulation time by approximately 34.5% and decreases the peak frequency deviation by approximately 37.2%. Compared to the adaptive rotational inertia control in traditional VSG, ADJ-FOVSG improves regulation time by about 24% and reduces peak frequency deviation by roughly 24.4%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Power Converters: Topology, Control, Reliability, and Applications)

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