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The Electric Drives and Machines Institute
at Graz University of Technology has a
long-standing tradition of research into
electric and electromechanical energy
converters, power electronics, and the
integration of these components into
systems. Located in the second largest
city in Austria, it is part of a university
with a focus on the engineering and
technical sciences. The university in-
cludes some 12000 students and close
to 2500 members of staff, the institute
is embedded in a network with other
universities within the city, the country,
Europe, and beyond, thereby benefitting
from a strong research and increasingly
international climate.
The competence of the institute was
complemented and extended in April
2010 when Prof. Muetze, who had
worked previously in Germany, the US,
and the UK, became head of the insti-
tute, further directing the institute into
an international network of research and
development activities. The new leader-
ship also brought forth the construction
of a new, modern laboratory building for
research and teaching activities. This facil-
ity provides around 300 m
2
of floor space,
up to 500 kVA power capabilities, includ-
ing 690 V systems and variable AC and
DC voltages up to 600 V, as well as the
appropriate modeling and measurement
equipment. A power electronics test lab-
oratory is also situated on the first floor to
complement the research in this area.
A significant part of the research activi-
ties is carried out in cooperation with
national and international industrial
partners, covering the areas of electro-
mechanical as well as solid-state power
converters, design of power-electronics
based systems including control and in-
teractions between system components,
and the development of prototypes and
experimental verification in the institute’s
own laboratories. With activities both in
the area of power electronics and in the
field of electric machines, the institute is
ideally placed to work on questions that
arise from power electronics to electric
drive systems applications.
Examples for current research projects
cover the wide range of topics from start-
ing of a line-operated synchronous ma-
chine with damper winding to the electric
and thermal design of drives for electric
traction applications, and small low-cost
drives of a few hundred Watts rated pow-
er for mass production. Further activities
include motor-inverter interactions, such
as inverter-induced bearing currents, and
the development of new power converter
topologies, such as a power supply reach-
ing titanium level efficiency for a wide
range of input voltages.
Graz University of Technology
New laboratory building.
Test rig for fractional horsepower drives
(Mechatronic Systems GmbH, Wies).
DC current link PWM inverter and its true color thermo graphic image.
