Power Electronics Research Centre

The Board of PEI-Technologies established a centre in Power Electronics in Galway in 1992.  The Centre is one of six established under the Programme of Advanced Technology, which is a partnership between Government, Industry and the University Sector.  The Centre is based in a 50 m2 facility in the McLoughlin Building.  The laboratory has over  €520,000 worth of state of the art test and measurement equipment.  The Power Electronics Research Centre (PERC) is an active participant in PEIG, the Power Electronics Industry Group, established by Enterprise Ireland in 2005.

OBJECTIVES OF PERC

The aim of the Centre is to foster links with industry by transferring technology from a strong research base in the University to the wider community.  The Centre is now involved in a number of new areas of research activities: automotive electronics; sensor technology; battery management, and power harvesting. Collaborations have been established with the Automotive Consortium at the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology; the Czech Technical University of Prague, Harbin University, China, the City University of Hong Kong and the Tyndall Institute, Cork.

Research opportunities

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND SCHOLARSHIPS IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
IRCSET ’Embark Initiative’ Postgraduate Scholarship offers opportunities for suitably qualified students to pursue a postgraduate degree by research. The Scheme supports basic research in the broad areas of Science, Engineering and Technology.
The call for applications opens on January 14th 2009 for students and researchers hoping to begin postgraduate research in the Republic of Ireland in October 2009. While a majority of postgraduate Scholarships awarded by the Council are offered to citizens of the European Union (EU) or to those whose legal and permanent residence is within a member state of the EU, a proportion of awards are also offered to exceptional candidates from non EU member states.

If you are interested in any of the research areas described in the PERC website, please contact Prof. Ger Hurley or Dr Maeve Duffy. Full details of the scheme are available at http://www.ircset.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=68.

NEWS

Variable inductor provides quasi-active power factor correction

PERC has developed a new Sloped Air-gap (SAG) Inductor which has an inductance-current characteristic that is suitable for power factor correction, see W. Wölfle, W. G. Hurley, " Quasi-Active Power Factor Correction with a Variable Inductive Filter: Theory, Design and Practice", IEEE Trans. on Power Electronics, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 248-255, January 2003. Read on

Enterprise Ireland Award

Dr Jimmy Devins T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, recently presented Enterprise Ireland’s Industrial Technologies Commercialisation Awards. PERC received one out of ten awards for its work in developing technologies in the fields of renewable energy. Since 2005, the Industrial Technologies Commercialisation Awards have recognised those researchers who successfully commercialised their research via a licence deal with an industrial partner or through the realisation of a successful spin-off. The PERC award recognised the partnership with Convertec for work on ’Battery Condition Monitoring and Control’. Pictured at the Industrial Technologies Commercialisation Award 2008:  Prof. Ger Hurley, Jim Lawler, Director Industrial Technologies Commercialisation, Enterprise Ireland, Dr Jimmy Devins, Minister of State for Science and Innovation

Cooperation agreement between City University of Hong Kong and NUI Galway

Department of Electronic Engineering in City University of Hong Kong and PERC have signed a Memeorandum of Agreement of Mutual Cooperation to collaborate in research in the area of electronic engineering, particularly in power electronics, to promote interdisciplinary engineering and joint research projects. Each unit agrees to promote student exchange on graduate degree level for peiod of study or research at the partner university. The two units will participate in the exchange of faculty for joint seminars and research in the area of electrical/elecetronic engineering. These exhanges may take the form of short courses, sabbatical, annual exchange or visiting scholar positions.

Appointment of Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering

NUI Galway has appointed Dr Werner Wölfle as Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering read on Professor Wölfle's Inaugural Lecture "Development of an Uninterruptible Emergency Power Supply for Pitch Control Systems for Offshore 5MW Wind Turbines" on Tuesday 30th September, 2008 at 3.30 pm in Siobhan McKenna Lecture Theatre, Arts Millenium Building, NUI Galway. (see brochure)               Pictured at the lecture from left:                 Professor Gearóid Ó Laighin, Head of Department of Electronic Engineering;                    Professor Werner Wölfle, Speaker; and Professor Ger Hurley, Director of PERC

Contact info

Power Electronics Research Centre
Electrical & Electronic Engineering
NUI Galway
Nun’s Island
Galway
Ireland

Phone: 353-91-493270
Fax: 353-91-494511
E-mail: ger.hurleynuigalway.ie or maeve.duffynuigalway.ie

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