Search Capabilities

Expertise in battery management systems including the ability to monitor temperature, state-of-charge, and maintain the system within safe operating limits to improve battery life.

Specialists in permanent magnet (PM) type electric machines and drive systems. Strong capabilities in designing and optimising high-speed PM machine geometries and developing advanced control techniques to further improve performance for emerging applications such as flywheel storage.

Reconfigurable Energy Storage (ES) systems incorporate a module switching circuit which allows the topology of the ES modules connected to the output converter to be controlled. The voltage and current capacity of the reconfigurable ES system can be adjusted, which increases flexibility and operating range.

The design of an optimised bi-directional DC-DC converter that is capable of charging and discharging super-capacitor banks.

In an energy storage string or module consisting of a number of cells, a significant variation in temperature distribution can exist. However, monitoring the whole module temperature is often hindered by hardware and cost limitations and, typically, only a limited number of temperature sensors are employed.

Battery management systems (BMS) for managing both charge and discharge of individual or groups of cells is essential for safety and increasing performance of the system. Balancing can be a simple passive circuit that normalises voltages in the steady-state or highly complex, using networks of active converter circuits that provide balancing function in both transient and steady-state.

Advanced energy storage techniques require advanced grid interfaces. Such advanced interfaces ensure that bidirectional inverter or converter technologies are capable of harnessing the benefits of the storage technique, helping unlock the advantages of new storage technologies.

Simplifying the coordination of vast numbers of Energy Storage (ES) Systems by clustering them dynamically into Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). The main technical challenge caused by massive penetration of different types of ES is the coordination of vast numbers of ES systems, bringing together various types and capacities of ES systems, individual customer behaviour, connections and disconnections of ES systems and potential power network changes.

Unlocking the benefits of large-scale energy storage systems requires advances in power electronics topologies for interfacing and supporting the electricity grid. Multilevel converters can provide optimised, reliable, modular and cost-effective solutions for large-scale multi-megawatt energy storage systems across a range of energy storage technologies.

Hybrid energy storage systems (ESS) combine individual advantages of different types of storage to realise a single ESS with both higher power and energy capabilities. Battery-supercapacitor based hybrid ESS help to reduce the battery power rating and extend battery life by minimizing the current variation.

Battery storage plays an important role in microgrids, improving grid reliability and resilience while facilitating effective operation of critical and frequency-sensitive loads. Battery storage is critical both for daily operation of a microgrid, as well as providing for grid redundancy in extreme events.

Battery storage provides significant advantages for integrating intermittent renewable energy systems into the electricity grid. Battery storage has the potential to become standard in new renewable energy installations, increasing their competitiveness and greater deployment of renewables.