Author Archives: ecc

High Density Power Conversion Using GaN devices and Machine Learning Based Prediction of Remaining Useful Life

Characterization of GaN devices at
different load profiles

This project focuses on the development of compact and robust power electronics systems for military installations, especially on ships and aircraft with limited space onboard. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense with a $2.5 million grant for three years starting in April 2020. Using Gallium Nitride (GaN) power technology, the first part of the project includes developing power converters using gallium nitride (GaN) devices, capable of quickly storing and discharging energy to operate the radar systems. With higher operating switching frequency, it is contributed to allows passive components in the circuit – including capacitors and inductors – to be designed at much smaller dimensions.

The other part focused on using machine learning to predict the lifespan of GaN devices, as well as of circuits employing these devices – based on real datasets. The use of GaN technology in power applications is relatively new, and online assessing how long they will continue to operate in a circuit remains a challenge. Hence, this part focuses on designing a compact-onboard health monitoring to predict the lifetime of individual components, primarily GaN and capacitors that may be extended to other components as well. This project involved the support of Tagore Technology, a semiconductors company based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA.

Characterization of electrolytic capacitors
at different load profiles

Bharat Bohara

Bharat Bohara received his Bachelors of Engineering (B.E) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Kathmandu University (KU), Nepal in 2015, and Masters of Technology (M.Tech) in Energy and Control System Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, India in 2019. He worked as a Computer Vision Engineer from Aug. 2019 to Aug. 2021 at the Emotix, a robotic startup company in India that builds AI-based companion robots for children. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston, TX, USA. His research interests include applications of machine learning in power electronics, computer vision, reinforcement learning, and efficient neural network implementation in FPGAs.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

bbohara@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Ravi Kumar Gaddala

Ravi Kumar Gaddala received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bapatla Engineering College, Bapatla, India and Master’s of Technology in Power Electronics and Drives from Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Later, he worked as an assistant project engineer and junior research fellow at IIT Guwahati and IIT Bhubaneswar in 2019 and 2020, respectively, India. He is currently pursuing Ph.D. in electrical engineering at University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. His research interests include renewable energy-based grid forming inverters, battery energy storage system, robust control techniques and efficient power sharing methods for power electronic converters.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

rgaddala@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Anil Kumar Reddy Siddavatam

Anil received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College, Tirupati, India in 2017 and the master’s degree in Power Electronics from National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India in 2020. He worked as a PGET (Design Engineer) in Engineering design and research centre at Power Transmission & Distribution IC, Larsen & Toubro Constructions, Chennai, India from August 2020 to July 2021. He is currently pursuing Ph.D. in the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at University of Houston in Texas, USA. His research interests include switched mode power supplies, internal model control of dual active bridge DC-DC Converter and co-ordinated control of circuit breaker for aerospace applications.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

asiddava@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Virendra Singh

Virendra Singh received his B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya Haridwar, India in 2017 and the M.Tech. degree in Power Electronics and Drives from the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India, in 2019. He was a project engineer in Indian Institute of Technology Madras from November 2019 to October 2020. Currently, he is pursuing Ph.D. in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Texas, USA. His research interests include microgrids, sensorless control of PMSM drives for subsea applications, and electric vehicles.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

vsingh27@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Arnur Karbozov

Arnur Karbozov received his BEng degree in Electrical Engineering from Nazarbayev University Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018 and the MSc degree in Energy Systems from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology Moscow, Russia, in 2020. He was a research assistant at Nazarbayev University from July 2020 to November 2020. Currently, he is pursuing PhD in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, USA. His research interests include microgrids, integration of renewable energy, electrification of subsea oil and gas.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

akarbozo@central.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Hussain Sayed

Hussain Sayed Received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Technology, Iraq, in 2010, and the MS.c degree in Systems Engineering from the College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2016. From January 2017 to August 2020, he worked as a lecturer in the power electronics field at the University of Technology, Iraq. Since August 2020, he joined the University of Houston as a Ph.D. Student at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His research interests include performance investigation of wide-bandgap power semiconductor devices, design and analysis of high-voltage gain source impedance-based dc-dc converters, dc-dc bidirectional converters, solid-state transformers, high-frequency high-power-density converters.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

hsubhi@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Thuan Pham

Thuan received his bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston. In 2019, he graduated with master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Management from the University of Houston while working as a Professional Engineer at CenterPoint Energy doing Relay & SCADA project for electrical substations, Thuan is currently pursuing his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Houston. His research interests include applying machine learning for power system operation and optimization.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

tdpham7@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Jin Lu

Jin Lu received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, China in 2018 and master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA in 2020. He is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Houston. His research interests are power system restoration and power system operation.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

jlu27@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1

Cunzhi Zhao

Cunzhi Zhao received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineer from McNeese State University, Lake Charles, USA in 2015 and master’s degree in Electrical Engineer from McNeese State University, Lake Charles, USA in 2018. He is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. His research interests include Microgrid Energy Management Strategy, Power System Optimization and Smart grids.

TITLE

Ph.D Student

EMAIL

czhao29@cougarnet.uh.edu

OFFICE

N308 Engineering Building 1