School of Electrical Electronic Engineering

The Power Electronics, Machines and Control (PEMC) Group at the University of Nottingham is one of the leading research groups in the UK in the field of power electronics and motor drives. In the past 5 years the group has undertaken research contracts worth £6M, earned from EPSRC, PPARC, DTI, national and international industry, EU, and UK and US defence bodies. The Group has international reputations in a number of research fields including AC drive control, power electronic converter applications, AC-AC power conversion (converter control, compact power and implementation techniques), and motor drive efficiency and instrumentation methods. Expertise also includes robust control, system control of wind and hybrid generation, system control of isolated power buses; EMC in drives and power electronic systems, and dynamic modelling techniques for electrical machines.

In addition to its technological research capabilities, the Group has an expanding portfolio of application areas including renewable energies (Areva, DTI, Innogy, EU, CEMEP), automotive (TRW) and RF power (PPARC/e2v Technologies/DSTL/HPRF Faraday). Its principle application area is currently in Aerospace. Following approx £1M worth of contracts developing high-power density actuator drives and power supplies for Smiths Aerospace, Boeing and Axa-Power, the Group was recently awarded the Smiths Aerospace University Technology Strategic Partnership jointly funded by Smiths Aerospace and EPSRC.

The Group is well known for its pure and applied research at real power levels and its experimental facilities (up to 1MW and 13kV) are recognised as being some of the best in the UK and have been recognised as a EU Marie Curie Training Centre. It also runs the Power Electronics and Drives Consortium (PEDICON) consisting of the leading UK-based power electronics and drives companies, and increasingly end-users of power electronic and drive equipment. The Consortium gives rolling financial support to the Group and acts as a forum for collaborative operations for both short-term consultative contracts and long-term research projects. Nearly all the Group’s projects are either completely or partially supported by industry.