Institute of Electric Power Systems

School of Engineering and Environment

The main areas of our work are electric drives, electrical grids, high-voltage engineering, electric railways and energy system control.

In our group, we combine industrial experience with scientific research. State-of-the-art knowledge, tools and lab equipment allows us to support your innovation project.

Research focus areas

Selected Projects

We support companies in exploring the latest technologies and methods and in implementing them in practice.

OPTIPUMP – Energy-efficient SiC pump drives

Development of an Energy-Efficient SiC-Based Pump Drive

Institute: Institute of Electrical Power Systems
Research field: Electrical engineering

MuSiC: SiC Dual Inverter for Industrial Drives

Development of a SiC-based dual inverter to improve the efficiency of industrial drive systems.

Institute: Institute of Electrical Power Systems
Research field: Electrical engineering

Optimised Use of Battery Storage for an Electric PostBus Charging Station

How can electric PostBuses be charged efficiently without overloading the power grid? In collaboration with IBB Energie AG, FHNW developed an intelligent battery storage control system that optimises the use of solar power and minimises peak loads during both electricity consumption and feed-in to the grid.

Institute: Institute of Electrical Power Systems
Research field: Energy and environment, Electrical engineering

Optimal Reactive Dispatch in a Power Plant System with Multiple Generators (REPOP)

How can reactive power provision be efficiently distributed across interconnected power plants? Development of an optimisation method that allocates reactive power among available generating units according to demand while minimising total power losses.

Institute: Institute of Electrical Power Systems
Research field: Energy and environment, Electrical engineering

Development of a Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) Calculator

Online Tool for Planning and Analysing Photovoltaic, Battery Storage and Electric Mobility Solutions

Institute: Institute of Electrical Power Systems
Research field: Electrical engineering, Energy and environment

ECPE Joint Research Programme: Reliability comparison of Si IGBTs and SiC MOSFETs for e-mobility applications

A new reliability test method that stresses both, transistor and diode is applied to obtain representative reliability data for e-mobility applications.

Institute: Institute of Electrical Power Systems
Research field: Energy and environment, Electrical engineering

Software Tools

Development of a Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) Calculator

Online Tool for Planning and Analysing Photovoltaic, Battery Storage and Electric Mobility Solutions

Aesch Multi-Energy-System

What will the energy supply of the future look like? Through the “Aesch Multi-Energy System,” the FHNW is researching how electricity, heat, energy storage, and electric mobility can interact intelligently in a real-world neighborhood—to ensure efficient, stable, and sustainable energy use.

Grid Assessment for the Energy Transition

How well-prepared is our power grid for the energy transition? The FHNW’s grid assessment analyzes existing distribution grids, simulates future loads from heat pumps, electric vehicles, and photovoltaics—and identifies early on where critical bottlenecks might arise. A data-driven basis for decision-making

Educational Software Tools

Dynamic Behavior of a Synchronous Machine

An interactive educational tool that demonstrates the dynamic behavior of a synchronous machine in real time. The load torque and field current (excitation current) can be adjusted in real time.

Dynamic Behavior of an Induction Motor

An interactive educational tool that demonstrates the dynamic behavior of an asynchronous motor in real time. The load torque, supply frequency, and supply voltages can be adjusted in real time.

Generation of a rotating field in a three-phase winding

An interactive educational tool that clearly demonstrates the formation of a rotating magnetic field in a three-phase winding for various numbers of poles. It can display single-layer or double-layer windings, as well as full-slot or partial-slot windings.

Laboratories

The Institute of Electric Power Systems has state-of-the-art laboratory and simulation infrastructure. Discover our laboratories!

Electric Power Systems Lab

In the Electric Power Systems Lab our experts measure energy technology components such as magnetic components, power converters and electrical machines. They also test charging stations and batteries for electromobility as well as electromagnetic simulations and modeling of machines and drive components.

Prosumer Lab

The Prosumer Lab offers our partners from the industry and research sector equipment and test benches for testing, developing and testing a wide range of smart grid technologies.

Power Electronics Lab

In the Power Electronics Lab, we develop, investigate and optimize power electronic components and systems. An extensive infrastructure is available for this purpose.

Publications

Some results of our work are published in Journals and at Conferences.

2024

Silvia Mastellone, Alex van Delft, “The Impact of Automatic Control Research on Industrial Innovation: Enabling a Sustainable Future”, Wiley-IEEE Press, ISBN: 978-1-119-98363-7; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conengprac.2021.104737
Amin Rezaeizadeh and Silvia Mastellone. “Reliability and Lifetime Optimal Control for Electric Vehicle Power Converters”. In: 2024 Conference on Decision and Control (CDC). IEEE. 2024, submitted.
Amin Rezaeizadeh and Silvia Mastellone. “Reliability-Optimized Space Vector Modulation (RO-SVM) for Semiconductors Lifetime Enhancement”. In: Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion (PCIM) Conference. 2024, accepted.
Amin Rezaeizadeh, Roy Smith, and Silvia Mastellone. “Stealthy Cyber Attack Filter and Its Impact on Control of Grid-forming Inverter”. In: 2024 Conference on Decision and Control (CDC). IEEE. 2024, submitted.
Amin Rezaeizadeh et al. “Enhancing DC-link capacitor lifetime in a 2-level inverter via optimal voltage vector modulation”. In: 2024 Conference on Decision and Control (CDC). IEEE. 2024, submitted.
Amin Rezaeizadeh et al. “Optimal Estimation of Higher-Order Equivalent Grid Impedance”. In: 2024 European Control Conference (ECC). IEEE. 2024, accepted.
Amin Rezaeizadeh et al. “Reliability-aware Control of Power Converters in Mobility Applications”. In: 2024 European Control Conference (ECC). IEEE. 2024, accepted.
Michael Schneeberger, Silvia Mastellone, and Florian Dörfler, “Advanced safety filter based on SOS Control Barrier und Lyapunov Functions”, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
Michael Schneeberger, Florian Dörfler, and Silvia Mastellone, “Advanced Safety Filter for Smooth Transient Operation of a Battery Energy Storage System”, submitted to 2024 Conference on Decision and Control (CDC).

2023

Luca Sandel, Gioele Zardini, Sofija Mitrova, Tanya Thekemuriyil, Renato A Minamisawa, Munaf Rahimo, Andrea Censi, Emilio Frazzoli, Silvia Mastellone , Enhancing Efficiency and Reliability of Electric Vehicles via Adaptive E-Gear Control, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), (2023), https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000626482
Martin Geidl, Nikolaos Efkarpidis, Ingo Herbst, Silvan Kieber, Energiewende-Check für Verteilnetze, Bulletin Electrosuisse, (2023)
Efkarpidis, N., Geidl, M., Wache, H., Peter, M., Adam, M. Technoeconomic Review of Smart Metering Applications. In: Ould Abdeslam, D. (eds) Smart Meters. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 97. Springer, (2023) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27556-2_
Nikolaos A. Efkarpidis, Stefano Imoscopi, Martin Geidl, Andrea Cini, Slobodan Lukovic, Cesare Alippi, Ingo Herbst, Peak shaving in distribution networks using stationary energy storage systems: A Swiss case study , Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks, Volume 34, (2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.segan.2023.101018
Schneeberger M., Dörfler F., and Mastellone S., «SOS Construction of compatible Control Lyapunov and Barrier Functions». IFAC-paperOnLine, Vol. 56, Issue 2, (2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2023.10.1058

2022

Lucas Güniat, Lea Ghisalberti, Li Wang, Christian Dais, Nicholas Morgan, Didem Dede, Wonjong Kim, Akshay Balgarkashi, Jean-Baptiste Leran, Renato Minamisawa, Harun Solak, Craig Carter, Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, GaAs nanowires on Si nanopillars: towards large scale, phase-engineered arrays. Nanoscale Horizons, (2022), https://doi.org/10.1039/D1NH00553G
Sundaramoorthy, V., Mihaila, A., Spejo, L., Minamisawa, R. A., & Knoll, L. Performance Comparison of 6.5 kV SiC PiN Diode with 6.5 kV SiC JBS and Si Diodes. In Materials Science Forum (Vol. 1062, pp. 588–592). Trans Tech Publications, Ltd, (2022), https://doi.org/10.4028/p-u12e6u
Sekhavatmanesh, S. Mastellone, and G. Ferrari-Trecate, “Online reconfiguration of voltage droop controllers using a convex optimization approach,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology (to appear), (2022) (cit. on pp. 14, 16, 30–32, 34).
Sekhavatmanesh, S. Mastellone, and G. Ferrari-Trecate, “Optimal droop control placement in distribution network via an exact OPF relaxation method,” in 61st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (to appear), (2022). [Online]. Available: arXiv:2204.05704 (cit. on pp. 14, 17, 30–32, 34).
Sekhavatmanesh, S. Mastellone, “An exact relaxation of AC-OPF problem for battery-integrated power grids“ Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, (2022)
Mastellone, D. Gayme, A. Fekih "Diversity and Inclusion in Control Workshop at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control 2021," in IEEE Control Systems Magazine, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 15-18, (2022), doi:10.1109/MCS.2022.3171474.
Efkarpidis et al.: A Robust KPI Framework for Smart Energy Systems of Different Scales. IEEE 31st International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE), pp. 454-461, (2022) doi: 10.1109/ISIE51582.2022.9831757.
Geidl, N. Efkarpidis, T. Tarnowski, A. Mettler. Lasten kunden- und netzdienlich steuern. Bulletin SEV/VSE (bulletin.ch), (2022), S. 29-32.
Efkarpidis, A. Goranović, C-W. Yang, M. Geidl, I. Herbst, S. Wilker, T. Sauter: A Generic Framework for the Definition of Key Performance Indicators for Smart Energy Systems at Different Scales. Energies, 15, 1289, (2022) https://doi.org/10.3390/en15041289
Efkarpidis, M. Geidl, H. Wache, M. Peter, M. Adam: Smart Metering Applications - Main Concepts and Business Models. Springer Lecture Notes in Energy, ISBN: 978-3-031-05736-6. (2022). German summary for download (pdf), French summary for download (pdf)

2021

Mastellone, A. van Delft: The impact of control research on industrial innovation: What would it take to make it happen?, Control Engineering Practice (111), 2021

2018

Hunziker, N. Schulz, H. Wache: Shaping aggregated load profiles based on optimized local scheduling of home appliances, Computer Science – Research and Development, 2018, 33, 61-70. 2018
Lütolf, M. Scherer, O. Mégel, M. Geidl, E. Vrettos: Rebound Effects of Demand-Response Management for Frequency Restoration. 5th IEEE International Energy Conference (ENERGYCON), Limassol, Cyprus, 2018
Schuetz, R. Durrer, D. Gwerder, M. Geidl, J. Worlitschek: State of operation recognition for heat pumps from smart grid monitoring data. Computer Science - Research and Development 33(1), 259-261, 2018

2017

C. Hunziker, and N. Schulz
Potential of solid-state transformers for grid optimization in existing low-voltage grid environments. Electric Power Systems Research , 2017, 146, 124 – 131. 2017
Geidl, B. Arnoux, T. Plaisted, S. Dufour: A fully operational virtual energy storage network providing flexibility for the power system. 12th IEA Heat Pump Conference, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2017

2016

C. Hunziker, and N. Schulz: Solid-State Transformer Modeling for Analyzing its Application in Distribution Grids. PCIM Europe - International Exhibition and Conference for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management, VDE Verlag GmbH Berlin Offenbach, 167-2174, 2016

2015

Farooq, A. Afram, N. Schulz, F. Janabi-Sharifi, Grey-box modeling of a low pressure electric boiler for domestic hot water system, Applied Thermal Engineering, 84, 257-267, 2015
Schulz, "Werden Trafos zukünftig zu Multifunktionstools?", Spektrum Gebäudetechnik, Nr. 5, 2015
Schulz, J. Bichsel, H. Wache, A. Farooq, C. Hoffmann, B. Lammel, and F. Mettler, „Smart Stability - Market-Economic Interaction of Smart Homes for Improved Power Network Stability“, Proceedings of the International Conference on Future Buildings and Districts, CISBAT 2015
Colotti, F. Jenni: Elektrische Antriebe: Effizient bewegen und fördern. 1. Auflage 2015, 180 Seiten. Faktor Verlag, 2015 (www.energieschweiz.ch > Publikationen > Bildung > Publikationen).

2014

M. Urech, F. Jenni, M. Wiederkehr: Efficiency of selected generator-converter-topologies for wind and water power plants. PCIM Europe 2014; International Exhibition and Conference for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management, 2014