Power Electronics Research Centre (PERC)       

5th International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems was hosted by PERC 24th – 27th June 2014   Read more about the conference at this link. Pictured left at the official opening of the conference Co-Chair Prof. Ger Hurley, President of NUI Galway Dr. James Browne, Local Arrangement Chair Dr. Maeve Duffy, General Chair Frede Blaabjerg, Aalborg University, Denmark.

The Power Electronics Research Centre was established in 1992 in a partnership between Government, Industry and the University Sector.  The Centre is based in a 60 m² facility in the new Engineering Building of NUI Galway.  The laboratory has over  €500,000 worth of state of the art test and measurement equipment.

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, Zhejiang University, China and the Tyndall Institute, Cork.

Research opportunities

Funding opportunities include the Irish Research Council schemes, which provide Postgraduate Scholarships and Postdoctoral Fellowships for suitably qualified students to pursue postgraduate research. “The Council funds excellent researchers across all disciplines and encourages interdisciplinary research and engagement with enterprise. The Council aims to support an expertise-driven research system in order to enhance Ireland’s innovation capacity and skills base in a rapidly changing global environment where knowledge is key to economic, social and cultural development.  The Council is further committed to facilitating the integration of Irish researchers in all disciplines within the European Research Area.” Calls for these schemes are distributed throughout the year. Details of the latest calls and more information are available at http://research.ie/.

Current areas of interest in PERC include:
    - High frequency magnetics
    - Improved light-load efficiency of power supplies for computing and other DC loads
    - Applications of wearable power generators & wireless power systems
    - Resonant converters
If you are interested in these or any of the research areas described in the PERC website, please contact Prof. Ger Hurley or Dr. Maeve Duffy.

NEWS

NUI Galway joins FUSION Project

The FUSION Programme is a North-South initiative run by InterTrade Ireland.  The programme is a business academic graduate partnership. The main objective of the FUSION project is the development of processes incorporating the upgrade of knowledge and IT skills to provide advanced electrical engineering design for export customer base in industrial automation, including the integration of process control systems, machine design and commissioning in a one stop turnkey operation. [ read more] Photo shows Jim Daly, General Manager, Little Electrical, Paul Lennon, FUSION graduate, Oonagh Monahan, InterTrade Ireland FUSION Consultant and Prof. Ger Hurley, NUI, Galway.

Student Success

David Newell, MEngSc student wins award for his poster on energy harvesting from the 2014 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference which was held in Fort Worth, Texas in March. David with his supervisor, Dr. Maeve Duffy pictured left. Jun Zhang, PhD student wins best paper award in PEDG2014 in June. On the right Jun pictured with Prof. Liuchen Chang (PEDG International Steering Committee), Dr. Werner Wölfle and Prof. Ger Hurley.

Middlebrook  Outstanding Technical Achievement Award

New Power Electronics Book

Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Visits Power Electronics Lab

Minister officially launches Energy Systems Programme at NUI Galway

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan T.D. officially launched the B.E. Programme in Energy Systems Engineering. The new course, which is based in the new Engineering Building, has been developed in partnership with key members of the Energy industry including; ESB, GE Energy, Airtricity, Bord Gáis, Wavebob, a wave energy technology company, and ARUPS and RPS. Pictured Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan T.D., Professor Ger Hurley, Course Director; and President of NUI Galway, Dr. James J. Browne with electric cars on campus.

Enterprise Ireland Award

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 FBM for work on “Battery Monitoring”. Previously PERC has received similar award with Convertec for work on ’Battery Condition Monitoring and Control’. Pictured at the Industrial Technologies Commercialisation Award:  Prof. Ger Hurley and Julian Finnerty, FBM, Galway

Appointment of Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering NUI Galway has appointed Dr Werner Wölfle as Adjunct Professor in Electrical Engineering read on (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

	Prof. Hurley awarded D.Eng by the National University of Ireland
	The D.Eng degree is the highest award by the National University of Ireland.  It is awarded to scholars who have published a substantial body of ground-breaking and influential work and who have achieved outstanding distinction internationally.

Contact info Power Electronics Research Centre Electrical & Electronic Engineering NUI Galway Galway Ireland
Phone: 353-91-493270 Fax: 353-91-494511 E-mail: ger.hurleynuigalway.ie or maeve.duffynuigalway.ie

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