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Aachen University of Technology (RWTH)
Overview
The Institute for Power Generation and
Storage Systems is part of the E.ON Ener-
gy Research Center (E.ON ERC) of RWTH
Aachen University. The center is a public
private partnership that was founded in
2006. Research in the center focuses on
energy savings, energy efficiency and sus-
tainable energy supplies. Five institutes
out of four different faculties strongly co-
operate in projects related to grids and
storage systems, buildings and city quar-
ters, as well as heat and power plants. At
the energy markets plane, questions re-
lated to consumer behavior, policies, social
aspects, and technology choices and dif-
fusion are being addressed.
The Institute for Power Generation and
Storage Systems works in the area of me-
dium-voltage power electronics and drives
and also on stationary energy storage
systems. The current research topics in-
volve the installation of a test bench for
power electronics and electrical drives
with a power rating of up to 5 MW and
rotational speeds of up to 15,000 1/min,
the design and construction of a 5 MW
dc-dc converter, the analysis of medium-
voltage direct current grids and power
electronic components for wind energy
converters in the MW-range. PGS is headed
by Professor Rik De Doncker, who is sup-
ported by Professor Dirk Uwe Sauer, head
of the research group “Electrochemical
Energy Conversion and Storage Systems”.
Mission Statement
PGS aims at researching, developing, and
applying power electronic conversion and
storage technologies (medium-voltage
building blocks) to significantly improve
the performance in terms of efficiency
and life cycle cost of generation, stor-
age, medium-voltage distribution and DC
transmission systems.
This requires
•
Design, fabrication and testing of high-
power semiconductor switches (clean
room)
•
Development, design and testing of
medium-voltage power converters (AC-
DC and DC-DC converters)
•
Development of controls and real-time
emulators
•
Development, design and testing of
fast hybrid switches for protection of
DC distribution and transmission sys-
tems (cables)
•
Analysis, design and development of
electrochemical storage systems
Prototype of 5 MW DC-DC-Converter
