Advanced Control, Simulation and Optimization of Power Electronics

Dear Colleagues,

The field of power electronics is rapidly evolving, driven by the need for more efficient, reliable, and sustainable energy systems. Power electronic converters process a significant portion of the world's electricity, and their use is expected to increase significantly further by 2030 due to the increasing adoption of renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, and smart grids, which heavily rely on power electronics for efficient energy conversion and management. Technologies such as electrical energy storage, renewable generation, and energy conversion for compelling applications such as electric mobility and data centers require power electronic solutions that ensure high-performance hardware, advanced controllers, and an optimal performance under diverse operating conditions. To achieve these goals, it is essential to develop models, controllers, and related design and testing techniques in order to address both the fast and slow dynamics of converters, enhancing their performance and reliability.

This Special Issue focuses on the use of advanced control integration, simulation, and optimization techniques in power electronics, particularly for the design, testing, and operation of converters. The application of innovative simulation methodologies is crucial in order to effectively model and validate converter hardware, control techniques, and modulation strategies, enabling the verification of research results in realistic conditions. One main challenge is integrating the complexity of real-world applications into effective models and laboratory test setups. Advanced simulation techniques, such as hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL), offer significant advantages by enabling the comprehensive reproduction of relevant behaviors related to different time scales (e.g., switching transient and related thermal dynamics) and practical insights before final deployment.

Furthermore, numerous variables must be optimized in the design stage, considering specific design requirements and desired functionalities. Beyond traditional performance metrics such as weight, size, and efficiency, modern converter design must consider additional factors such as sustainability and environmental impact. This necessitates the use of advanced modeling and data-driven approaches to address a wide range of optimization challenges at the component, circuit, and system levels, both during design and operation.

This Special Issue aims to explore emerging solutions for the control, simulation, and optimization of power electronics, fostering innovation in modeling, design, testing, and operation. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics: 

- Advanced control techniques for high switching-frequency converters;

- Modeling and simulation methods for the design and testing of converters;

- Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) methodologies in power electronics;

- Optimization strategies for power electronic converters and systems;

- Sustainability and environmental impact considerations in power electronics design;

- Fault diagnostics, fault-tolerant designs, and reliability analysis of converters.

We invite researchers and practitioners to submit their latest findings and innovations to this Special Issue, which aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current trends and future directions regarding the control, simulation, and optimization of power electronics solutions.

Dr. Tommaso Caldognetto
Dr. Davide Biadene
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• power electronics
• digital control
• simulation
• validation
• real-time simulations
• power hardware in the loop
• optimization
• on-line optimization
• modeling