Seminar 10: Cost-Effective Cells for Modular Multilevel Converters

Abstract: In his PhD project at the KTH, Matthijs Heuvelmans has been investigating the possibility of using soft-switching topologies to improve upon the cost-effectiveness of high-power modular multilevel converters. Not only does soft-switching decrease losses, but when applied to IGCT-based converters it can also be used to increase the cell voltage which helps reduce system cost by reducing the number of cells and supporting hardware overhead. In this seminar Matthijs Heuvelmans will discuss the main findings of his work and also treat the practical aspects of doing tests on high power converters that he had to contend with during his project.

Bios: Matthijs Heuvelmans started his PhD at the KTH in the autumn of 2013. Before that he has worked as an analogue / power electronics engineer at Prodrive and at ABB Corporate Research, where he performed his diploma work in photovoltaics. He has obtained his M.Sc degree from the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands in 2010 and his B.Eng degree with honors from the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in 2006, both in Electrical engineering with specialization power electronics.