378

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007

Evaluation of Cascade-Multilevel-Converter-Based
STATCOM for Arc Furnace Flicker Mitigation
Chong Han, Member, IEEE, Zhanoning Yang, Bin Chen, Alex Q. Huang, Fellow, IEEE,
Bin Zhang, Student Member, IEEE, Michael R. Ingram, Senior Member, IEEE, and
Abdel-Aty Edris, Senior Member, IEEE

AbstractAs an industry customer of electric power, an electrical arc furnace (EAF) is a major flicker source that causes major
power quality problems. For a 40-MVA EAF in Tennessee, USA,
a cascade-multilevel converter (CMC)-based STATic synchronous
COMpensator (STATCOM) with high bandwidth is proposed for
EAF flicker mitigation. In this paper, flicker mitigation techniques
by using a CMC-based STATCOM are presented and verified
through a transient network analyzer (TNA) system. The required
STATCOM capacity is first studied through a generalized
steady-state analysis. Second, the STATCOM control strategy for
flicker mitigation is introduced, and simulation results are given.
Finally, a TNA system of the STATCOM and an EAF system
are designed and implemented. Experimental results from the
TNA test show that the proposed CMC-based STATCOM and its
controller can efficiently and rapidly mitigate the EAF flicker.
Index TermsCascade-multilevel converter (CMC), electric arc
furnace, flicker, STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM),
transient network analyzer (TNA).

I. I NTRODUCTION

ECENTLY, with the growth of industry manufacturers

and population, electric power quality has become more
and more important. As one of the most common power quality
issues, flicker, which is caused by feeder voltage fluctuation,
influences domestic lighting and sensitive apparatus of nearby
transmission and distribution system. An electrical arc furnace
(EAF), as a major industry customer of a utility, consumes
considerable real power and reactive power with time-varying,

Paper PID-06-26, presented at the 2005 Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Hong Kong, October 26, and approved for publication in the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Metal Industry
Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. Manuscript submitted
for review October 15, 2005 and released for publication October 30, 2006.
This work was supported in part by the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute,
in part by the Tennessee Valley Authority, and in part by the U.S. Department
of Energy, Sandia National Laboratory.
C. Han is with ABB Inc., Norwalk, CT 06851 USA (e-mail: chhan@
ieee.org).
Z. Yang was with the Semiconductor Power Electronics Center, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA.
B. Chen and A. Q. Huang are with the Semiconductor Power Electronics
Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA. (e-mail:
aqhuang@ncsu.edu).
B. Zhang is with Linear Technology Corporation, Raleigh, NC 27513 USA.
M. R. Ingram is with the Tennessee Valley Authority, Chattanooga, TN
37402 USA.
A.-A. Edris is with the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA
94304 USA.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2006.889896

stochastic, and even chaotic characteristics during its melting

and refining process and, therefore, generates severe flicker to
the grid [1].
How to economically and efficiently mitigate EAF flicker is
consistently a tough issue for utility professionals. The basic
methodology for flicker mitigation can be categorized into three
types. 1) The first is regulating the EAF passive components,
such as source impedance [2]. Although, to some extent, the
increasing series reactance can mitigate the flicker, it reduces
the power supply and therefore decreases EAF productivity.
Moreover, it is also expensive and laborious to control upstream transformer reactance or series reactor in the firmer
deregulation power system. 2) The second is compensation
through the combination of thyristor and passive components,
such as the well-known static var compensator (SVC). SVC
cannot only improve the power quality of the nearby system
but can also increase EAF productivity and bring additional
economic benefits. However, it cannot catch up the fastvarying flicker (120 Hz) very well with the inherent limit
of relatively low bandwidth; hence, its dynamic performance
for flicker mitigation is limited. 3) The state-of-the-art solution is the synchronous STATic synchronous COMpensator
(STATCOM) based on a high-frequency voltage-source converter (VSC) [3].
While the SVC performs as a controlled reactive admittance,
the STATCOM functions as a synchronous voltage source, as
its name suggests. With currently available high-power semiconductor devices, such as insulated gate bipolar transistors
(IGBTs), insulated gate commutated thyristors (IGCTs), and
emitter turn-off (ETOs) thyristors, a STATCOM can switch at
several kilohertz and achieve a closed-loop bandwidth at several
hundred hertz; hence, the response time is much less than one
cycle. The STATCOM can also provide real power compensation if interfaced with an energy storage unit, all of which
are unattainable for SVC. With these benefits, the STATCOM
performs significantly better than SVC [4]. At present, the
STATCOM is considered the best flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) device for flicker mitigation.
For a shunt-link FACTS device such as the STATCOM, the
cascade-multilevel converter (CMC), which is constructed with
identical H-bridge building blocks [5], is the most feasible
topology because of its compact structure, modularity, fast
response, and clean power quality [5][8]. Therefore, for a
40-MVA EAF in Tennessee, USA, a CMC-based STATCOM
is proposed. In this paper, the control strategy and performance of the CMC-based STATCOM for flicker mitigation is

0093-9994/$25.00 2007 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

HAN et al.: EVALUATION OF CMC-BASED STATCOM FOR ARC FURNACE FLICKER MITIGATION

379

power PL and QL , the voltage of PCC is decreased from the

original value to VPCC . To compensate the voltage of the PCC


, the injected reactive power at the PCC has to
back to VPCC
be QC . Based on the assumption that the angle between VS
and VPCC is small, the relationship among QC , XS , VPCC , and


can be derived as follows:
VPCC
Qc

Fig. 1.

Worst case flicker model of electric arc furnace.

presented and evaluated through a real-time transient network

analyzer (TNA).
This paper is organized as follows. First, an EAF flicker
model based on a worst case approach is introduced, and the
STATCOM capacity for flicker mitigation is stated through
the generalized steady-state analysis. Second, the STATCOM
control strategy is presented. Decoupling control gives an independent freedom to regulate reactive and real power. Satisfactory stability margins and control bandwidth are achieved
through careful design in the s-domain. The design is simulated
in ElectroMagnetic Transients including DC/Power Systems
Computer Aided Design (EMTDC/PSCAD). Finally, a TNA
system of the CMC-based STATCOM and an EAF flicker
system are described. The TNA experiment results are given.
II. EAF F LICKER M ODEL AND S TEADY -S TATE A NALYSIS
Arc furnace operation is a complicated dynamic arcing
process. Historically, there are various methods to model arc
furnace, such as arcing resistance model, harmonics accumulation model, and frequency-domain method [9][11]. These
methods can match the nonlinear V I curve and the stochastic
and even chaotic characteristics of EAF; therefore, they are
satisfactory for the purpose of power quality analysis. However, from the flicker mitigation control design and systemstability-study point of view, a deterministic model needs to be
developed.
As shown in Fig. 1, a flicker model consisting of switching
passive loads is proposed to model EAF flicker under worst case
scenario. For any operating conditions, this behavior model can
represent similar impedance as real-world EAF and therefore
produces similar flicker at the point of common coupling
(PCC). In addition, because of its definite impedance, it is
suitable for stability analysis and s-domain control design.
From the real-time recorded waveform of EAF at Tennessee,
the flicker can be summarized as follows. 1) The flicker frequency is about 5 Hz. 2) The flicker magnitude V/V is about
1%. 3) Source XS /RS is about 3 [12].
Since the 1% flicker is beyond the IEEE irritability threshold curve of the IEEE standard shown in Fig. 2 [13], the
mitigation devices have to be applied to decrease flicker into
an acceptable range.
For the reactive power compensation, the system steady-state
diagram is shown in Fig. 3. The system voltage and impedance
are VS and XS , respectively. When the arc furnace consumes




VPCC VPCC VPCC
.
XS

(1)

With (1), the normalized relationship among flicker magnitude (VPCC /VPCC ), STATCOM capability (QC /SEAF ), and
system X/R ratio (XS /RS ) are plotted in Fig. 4. As shown in
Fig. 4, a 4.5- and 30-MVA STATCOM can mitigate flicker by
20% and 80%, respectively, which means that the flicker can be
fully mitigated into the acceptable range if 30 MVA is utilized.
III. STATCOM C ONTROL FOR F LICKER M ITIGATION
The one-line diagram of the STATCOM application for
flicker mitigation is shown in Fig. 5. A CMC-based STATCOM
is controlled through a two-loop structure. The internal control
diagram is shown in Fig. 6. Two current loops Id loop and Iq
loop are decoupling controlled and designed with a bandwidth
of hundreds of hertz and adequate stability margins. The Id
reference is responsible for charging/discharging the dc capacitor and therefore is regulated by a voltage loop to maintain
the dc-bus voltages. The Iq reference is the reactive current
command, which is connected with the external controller for
flicker mitigation. The external control, as shown in Fig. 7,
is designed for specific EAF flicker mitigation to support the
voltage VPCC . Through measuring the voltages at PCC, generating error signals, and proportionalintegral (PI) regulator,
the external control gives the Iq reference for internal control
so that STATCOM provides reactive power compensation and
mitigates the voltage fluctuation at PCC.
Offline simulation in PSCAD/EMTDC environment demonstrates the compensation performance for different STATCOM
ratings, and results are shown in Fig. 8. Moreover, the simulation results for different XS /RS are also summarized in Fig. 9.
As seen from Figs. 4 and 9, the analysis results and simulation
results match each other very well.
IV. EAF F LICKER AND STATCOM TNA S YSTEM
To evaluate the CMC-based STATCOM control strategy and
flicker mitigation performance, a real-time TNA system of
STATCOM and EAF, as shown in Fig. 10, is developed. The
left cabinet houses the EAF flicker TNA composed of solidstate ac-switches, passive loads, and coupling transformer; the
STATCOM power stage with three-level IGBT-based CMCs,
dc capacitors, ac reactors, and precharge circuits is housed in
the center cabinet; and the digital signal processor (DSP)/fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA)-based central controller is
mounted into the cabinet on the right. The parameters of the
TNA system are listed in Table I.
For the EAF flicker TNA, a three-phase ac switch is designed
using a back-to-back IGBT (SKM300GB 1240) phase leg with

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

380

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007

Fig. 2. Maximum permissible flicker in the IEEE standard.

Fig. 3. Reactive power compensation.

Fig. 4. Normalized VPCC /VPCC (QC /SEAF , XS /RS ).

resistor capacitor diode (RCD) snubber to achieve the variable

flicker frequency. Its principle diagrams and physical pictures
are shown in Fig. 11.
Known from the experimental results shown in Fig. 12, the
flicker TNA can be well controlled to generate the required
flicker and meet all the requirements of flicker frequency,
magnitude, power factor, and source impedance.
The CMC-based STATCOM, whose power stage is shown
in Fig. 13, is shunted-connected with the EAF flicker TNA
at PCC. The ac circuit breaker provides the overvoltage and

Fig. 5.

CMC-based STATCOM for EAF flicker mitigation diagram.

Fig. 6.

Internal control strategy of CMC-based STATCOM.

Fig. 7.

External control strategy.

overcurrent protection for STATCOM TNA. The precharge

circuit energizes the STATCOM for the ac side, and the ac
reactors mainly filter the current harmonics. Three identical

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

HAN et al.: EVALUATION OF CMC-BASED STATCOM FOR ARC FURNACE FLICKER MITIGATION

Fig. 8.

381

PSCAD/EMTDC simulation results.

TABLE I
BREAKDOWN OF STATCOM AND EAF FLICKER TNA

Fig. 9.

Calculation and simulation results.

Fig. 10. CMC-based STATCOM and EAF flicker TNA system.

H-bridge VSCs achieve synchronous voltage source and hereby

provide the reactive power through ac reactors.
The central controller includes sensors, interface boards,
operator panel, an FPGA (Xilink XCV50), a 64-bit DSP
(TMS320C6701), and a personal computer. The DSP, as the
central process unit of the whole controller, computes the main

feedback control algorithm, monitors the system operation, and

executes the protection command if necessary. The FPGA,
performing as the DSP buffer, communicates bidirectionally
with the DSP to transfer in the feedback signals and out the
switch duty command and also calculates the sinusoidal pulse
width modulation algorithm to translate the duty signal into the
practical IGBT switching signals through optical fibers.
With the central controller, all STATCOM normal operation
modes from initialization, precharge, online flicker mitigation,
stop, ac disconnect, and dc discharge to, finally, shutdown
can be executed through the operator panel, and the necessary
protection schemes are tripped when faults are detected. The
flow diagram of the STATCOM operation modes is shown
in Fig. 14.
V. E XPERIMENT R ESULTS
Scaling down the practical arc furnace at Tennessee, the
source XS /RS ratio and flicker frequency of flicker TNA are

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

382

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007

Fig. 11. High-speed solid-state ac switch.

Fig. 12. TNA flicker waveforms.

Fig. 13. Power stage of STATCOM TNA.

adjusted to 3.7 and 5 Hz, respectively, by regulating the series

impedances and ac-switch switching frequency. In addition, the
STATCOM TNA rating is set to 30% of the EAF TNA rating.
The experimental results recorded by the oscilloscope are
shown in Fig. 15. Compared with the results before compensation, the flicker is obviously mitigated after compensation.
The waveform at the right side shows that the STATCOM
provides dynamic reactive currents to compensate the power
consumption by arc furnace and hereby mitigates the voltage
fluctuation at system side. The phase shift between voltage

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

HAN et al.: EVALUATION OF CMC-BASED STATCOM FOR ARC FURNACE FLICKER MITIGATION

Fig. 14. STATCOM operation mode.

Fig. 15. Experiment results.

Fig. 16. Simulation versus experiment.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

383

384

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 43, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2007

and current is not exactly 90 because the Id channel needs a

small current to compensate the STATCOM internal loss and to
maintain the VSC dc-bus voltages. The waveform also verifies
that the CMC-based STATCOM have a control bandwidth of
hundreds of hertz and hence is fast enough to compensate
flickers (120 Hz).
In Fig. 16, the real-time VPCC_rms recorded by DSP is
compared with the switching-model simulation waveforms in
PSCAD/EMTDC. As shown in the waveforms, the simulation
results clearly match the TNA experiment results; therefore, the
proposed EAF model and CMC-based STATCOM model with
its controller are all validated.

VI. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, the principles and design of a CMC-based
STATCOM for flicker mitigation have been presented and
verified through a TNA system. The steady-state analysis gives
a generalized relationship of VPCC /VPCC , QC /SEAF , and
XS /RS and provides the steady-state evaluation of STATCOM
for flicker mitigation. The control strategy of the CMC-based
STATCOM system is introduced and verified through the simulation results. The real-time TNA system integrating CMCbased STATCOM with its digital controller and EAF flicker
model is demonstrated, and its experimental results verify
the EAF and STATCOM models, the digital controller, and
the hardware apparatus. From the experimental results, the
CMC-based STATCOM system efficiently and rapidly mitigates the EAF flickers and is feasible for future full-rating field
demonstration.

[11] J. G. Mayordomo, L. F. Beites, R. Asensi, M. Izzeddine, L. Zabala, and

J. Amantegui, A new frequency domain arc furnace model for
iterative harmonic analysis, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 12, no. 4,
pp. 17711778, Oct. 1997.
[12] L. Zhang, Y. Liu, M. R. Ingram, D. T. Bradshaw, S. Eckroad, and
M. L. Crow, EAF voltage flicker mitigation by FACTS/ ESS, in Proc.
IEEE Power Syst. Conf. and Expo., Oct. 2004, vol. 1, pp. 372378.
[13] IEEE Recommended Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control
in Electrical Power Systems, IEEE 519-1992.

Chong Han (M07) received the B.S. degree (with

honors) from Huazhong University of Science and
Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, the M.S. degree
from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, and the Ph.D. degree from North
Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, all in
electrical engineering.
From 1999 to 2001, he was with the National TNA
(transient network analyzer) Laboratory and the Superconductivity Power R&D Center, HUST, China,
where his research focused on FACTS controller,
energy storage system, and power system automation. From 2001 to 2004, he
was a Research Assistant at the Center for Power Electronics Systems, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University. From 2004 to 2006, he was with the
Semiconductor Power Electronics Center, NCSU. Since 2007, he has been with
ABB Inc., Norwalk, CT, as a Grid System Consultant. His current research
interests include control of power electronics and power systems, real-time
TNA, energy storage systems, and renewable energy.

R EFERENCES
[1] S. R. Mendis, M. T. Bishop, and J. F. Witte, Investigations of voltage
flicker in electric arc furnace power systems, IEEE Ind. Appl. Mag.,
vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 2834, Jan./Feb. 1996.
[2] G. C. Montanari, M. Loggini, L. Pitti, E. Tironi, and D. Zaninelli,
The effects of series inductors for flicker reduction in electric power
systems supplying arc furnaces, in Proc. IEEE IAS Annu. Meeting, Oct.
1993, vol. 2, pp. 14961503.
[3] C. Schauder, STATCOM for compensation of large electric arc furnace
installations, in Proc. IEEE PES Summer Meeting, Jul. 1999, vol. 2,
pp. 11091112.
[4] A. Garcia-Cerrada, P. Garcia-Gonzalez, R. Collantes, T. Gomez, and
J. Anzola, Comparison of thyristor-controlled reactors and voltagesource inverters for compensation of flicker caused by arc furnaces, IEEE
Trans. Power Del., vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 12251231, Oct. 2000.
[5] S. Sirisukprasert, Z. Xu, B. Zhang, J. Lai, and A. Q. Huang, A highfrequency 1.5 MVA H-bridge building block for cascaded multilevel converters using emitter turn-off thyristor, in Proc. IEEE APEC, Mar. 2002,
vol. 1, pp. 2732.
[6] J.-S. Lai and F. Z. Peng, Multilevel converters-a new breed of power
converters, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 509517,
May/Jun. 1996.
[7] F. Z. Peng, J.-S. Lai, J. W. McKeever, and J. VanCoevering, A multilevel
voltage-source inverter with separate DC sources for static VAr
generation, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 11301138,
Sep./Oct. 1996.
[8] C. Qian and M. L. Crow, Cascaded converter-based StatCom with
energy storage, in Proc. IEEE PES Winter Meeting, Jan. 2002, vol. 1,
pp. 544549.
[9] T. Zheng and E. B. Makram, An adaptive arc furnace model,
IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 931939, Jul. 2000.
[10] S. Varadan, E. B. Makram, and A. A. Girgis, A new time domain voltage
source model for an arc furnace using EMTP, IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 16851691, Jul. 1996.

Zhaoning Yang was born in Yulin, China, in 1978.

He received the B.S. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in
1999, and the M.S. degree from North Carolina State
University, Raleigh, both in electrical engineering.
His research interests include modeling and control of cascade-multilevel-converters, real-time digital control of STATCOM systems, and modular
controller architecture design.

Bin Chen received the B.S. degree from Huazhong

University of Science and Technology, Wuhan,
China, in 1994, and the M.S. degree from Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China, in 2002, both in electrical engineering. He is currently working toward the
Ph.D. degree at the Semiconductor Power Electronics Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.
He was with the Center of Power Electronics
Systems, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Blacksburg, from 2003 to 2004. His research interests include power semiconductor devices, power converters, and modeling and control of power systems.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

HAN et al.: EVALUATION OF CMC-BASED STATCOM FOR ARC FURNACE FLICKER MITIGATION

385

Alex Q. Huang (S91M94SM96F05) was

born in Zunyi, China. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 1983, the M.Sc. degree
in electrical engineering from Chengdu Institute
of Radio Engineering, Chengdu, China, in 1986,
and the Ph.D. degree from Cambridge University,
Cambridge, U.K., in 1992.
From 1992 to 1994, he was a Research Fellow
with Magdalene College, Cambridge. From 1994 to
2004, he was a Professor with the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, Blacksburg. Since 2004, he has been the Alcoa Professor
of Electrical Engineering with the Semiconductor Power Electronics Center,
North Carolina State University, Raleigh. Since 1983, he has been involved in
the development of modern power semiconductor devices and power integrated
circuits. He fabricated the first IGBT power device in China in 1985. He is the
inventor and key developer of the emitter turn-off thyristor technology. He has
published more than 100 papers in international conference proceedings and
journals and holds 14 U.S. patents. His current research interests include utility
power electronics, power management microsystems, and power semiconductor devices.
Prof. Huang is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and the prestigious
R&D 100 Award.

Michael R. Ingram (M91SM96) received the

B.E.E. degree (with honors) from Auburn University,
Auburn, AL, and the M.S. degree in engineering
management from the University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga.
He is the Senior Manager of Transmission Technologies with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA),
Chattanooga, TN. He is responsible for research, development, and demonstration of new technologies,
which improve electrical quality and reliability, increase power flow, and reduce the operating expense
of the TVA transmission system and interconnected distribution network. He
provides advice to TVA executives on new technology solutions affecting
the T&D networks and sets strategy for research and development in areas
of energy storage, power quality, power/transmission markets, FACTS, and
superconductivity. He has been with TVA for 17 years, working in technical
project management, protection and control engineering, and substation design.
He has authored or coauthored more than 30 technical papers and articles within
this area.
Mr. Ingram was a recipient of the Outstanding Young Engineer of the Year
Award (2001) from the IEEE Power Engineering Society, the Engineer of
the Year Award (2001 and 2006) from the Tennessee Valley Authority, the
IEEE Millennium Medal, the Outstanding Power Engineer of the Year Award
(1997), and the Chattanooga-Area Young Engineer of the Year Award (1996).
He was also a top-ten finalist for the Federal Engineer of the Year Award
(2001 and 2006). He has also served as Chairman or Committee Member of
several users/working groups of the IEEE, Electrical Power Research Institute,
and CIGRE.

Bin Zhang (S01) received the B.S. degree from

Tianjin University, Tianjin, China, in 1992, the M.S.
degree from the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEE, CAS),
Beijing, China, in 1999, and the Ph.D. degree from
the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES),
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, in 2005, all in electrical engineering.
From 1992 to 2000, he was an Electrical Engineer
with IEE, CAS, where he was involved in the development of ac and dc servo motor drive systems.
From 2000 to 2005, he was a Research Assistant with CPES, where he was
involved in research on high-power devices and power converters. In 2005, he
joined Linear Technology Corporation, Raleigh, NC, as an Analog IC Design
Engineer. He has published more than 20 IEEE conference/TRANSACTIONS
papers and holds three China patents and one U.S. patent. His research interests
include power semiconductor devices, analog integrated circuits, modeling and
control of power converters, and motor drives.

Abdel-Aty Edris (S74M80SM88) was born in

Cairo, Egypt. He received the B.S. degree (with honors) from Cairo University, Cairo, the M.S. degree
from Ain-Shams University, Cairo, and the Ph.D.
degree from Chalmers University of Technology,
Gothenburg, Sweden.
He spent 12 years with the ABB Company in
Sweden and in the USA, in the development and application of reactive power compensators and highvoltage dc transmission systems. In 1992, he joined
the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo
Alto, CA, as Manager of the flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) technology. He is the Technology Manager of EPRI Power Delivery and Markets.
Dr. Edris is a member of several IEEE and CIGRE working groups. He
is a recipient of the IEEE 2006 award for industry leadership and scientific
contribution to FACTS Technology, pioneering the transformation of electric
transmission systems into flexible, controllable, yet secure systems operated at
thermal capacity.

Authorized licensed use limited to: UNIVERSITATSBIBLIOTHEK DORTMUND. Downloaded on September 10, 2009 at 15:56 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.