The rapid evolving of wide-bandgap (WBG) devices, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors, has propelled the field of power electronics into a new era. This special session aims to explore the transformative potential of WBG-device-based power electronics in various applications. It will focus on showcasing the latest advancements arising from the integration of WBG devices to power electronics. By bringing together experts and researchers in this special session, the organizers aim to develop collaborative discussions, share cutting-edge research findings, and inspire future advancements of utilizing WBG devices. This special session hopes to accelerate the adoption of WBG devices and contribute to the realization of sustainable and efficient power electronic systems.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1. High Efficiency or Compact Converters Enabled by Wide-Bandgap Device

2. Medium Voltage or High-Power Converters Enabled by Wide-Bandgap Device

3. Reliability enhancements and analysis of Wide-Bandgap Device

4. Gate Drivers for Wide-bandgap Device

5. Analysis and Optimizations of Magnetics for Wide-Bandgap Device

6. Electromagnetic Compatibility of Integrating Wide-Bandgap Device

7. Ultra-low or ultra-high temperature operations of Wide-Bandgap Device

8. Applications of Wide-Bandgap Device, e.g. Renewable Energy Systems, Electric Vehicles, Aerospace applications, Motor Applications, Wireless Power Transfer, and Energy Storage Applications.

The electrical machines play the role of energy conversion for the applications of wind power generation, rail transit system, electric vehicle traction, and ship propulsion. While there has been a steady growth in the use of electrical machine systems, the performance and reliability are obviously degraded due to the effects of complex operating conditions, which imposes significant challenge for the applications of electrical machine systems in modern industry. To address this, new machine topology, optimization design, condition monitoring methods as well as control technologies have to be developed. The aim of the proposed special session is to report the latest research advances in reliability-oriented study of electrical machine systems: topology, monitoring, and control.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1. High-performance sensorless control strategy;

2. Advanced fault tolerant control strategy;

3. Real-time condition monitoring and parameter identification;

4. Power electronics and machine topology innovation;

5. Artificial intelligence-based fault diagnosis strategy;

6. Vibration and noise suppression;

7. Nonlinear control strategy;

8. Other topics for reliability improvement.

The rapid development of electric vehicles has brought higher requirements on the performance of motor drive systems. This has contributed to the advancement of materials, design methods, topologies, and manufacturing processes for electric machines, which are aimed at high compactness, high efficiency, high power density, and high reliability. On the other hand, the employment of motor drive systems in more critical applications demands more advanced control methods with robustness and effectiveness. This special session is aimed to collect the latest theoretical and technological ideas for better development of motor drive systems in Electric Vehicles applications.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1.    Optimization design methods of motors for Electric Vehicles

2.    New analyzing and modeling methods of motors for Electric Vehicles

3.    Advanced control strategies of motor drive systems in Electric Vehicles

4.    Novel converter topologies of motor drive systems in Electric Vehicles

5.    Other related topics, such as literature review, fault diagnosis, position estimation, and industrial applications of motors for Electric Vehicles.

Energy storage systems (ESSs) play a crucial role in modern society due to their numerous benefits and contributions to various aspects of energy management. Renewable generations, such as solar and wind, are intermittent in nature, meaning their generation varies with weather conditions and time of day. Energy storage systems help overcome this challenge by capturing excess energy when it is available and releasing it when there is a demand. This enables the smooth integration of renewable energy into the grid, reduces curtailment, and promotes a more sustainable and reliable energy mix. Moreover, ESSs provides additional control degrees of freedom to better manage the power flow across transmission or distribution systems. When it comes to smaller time scales, system ancillary services, such frequency regulation, voltage supports as well as black start, could also be realized by ESSs, which enables to make power grids more resilient and reliable.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

Data-driven control for energy storage systems (ESSs)

Multi-field modeling of ESSs

Multi-field coupling analyses of ESSs

Battery management systems (BMS) for heterogeneous energy storage systems (HESSs)

Power management systems (PMS) for HESSs

Energy management systems (EMS) for HESSs

Transactive energy management of HESSs

Health monitoring for ESSs and HESSs

Power system inertia supports by ESSs and HESSs

Voltage regulation supports by ESSs and HESSs

Reliability reinforcement by ESS and HESSs

Resilience enhancement by ESS and HESSs

Flexible power flow control by ESS and HESS

The rapid proliferation of renewable systems, such as photovoltaic and wind, shifts the paradigm of modern power grids towards power-electronic-based systems. Due to low inertial and high fluctuation of grid impedance, the increasing penetration of grid-connected renewables challenges the grid dynamics and stability, which requires to be more adaptive and supportive to the power grid. To address this requirement, this special session aims to disseminate and highlight the emerging advances of grid-connected renewable systems in terms of new topology, modelling and analysis, advanced control, design and optimization. Prospective authors are invited to submit original contributions in the related research topics.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1. New topologies in grid-connected renewable systems;

2. Stability analysis and enhancement of grid-connected renewable systems;

3. Hybrid operation with grid-following and grid-forming control for renewable systems;

4. Active grid voltage and frequency support with renewable systems;

5. Integration of storage systems for grid-connected renewables;

6. Power to X application with renewable systems;

7. Data-driven based modeling and optimization for grid-connected renewable systems;

8. System-level analysis and design of grid-connected renewable systems.

Renewable energies such as wind power and solar power have increasingly been penetrating into the conventional synchronous generator-dominated power systems in recent years. Power converters, such as grid-following inverters and grid-forming inverters, are widely employed as the interface between these renewable energies and the utility grid, making the modern power systems power electronized. However, different from the conventional synchronous generators, the fast control dynamics of these power converters can threaten the safe and reliable operation of the modern power systems. It is thus important and urgent to develop advanced modeling, analysis, and control strategies to identify, avoid, and mitigate the potential issues brought by power converters. The aim of the proposed special session is to report the latest research advances in modeling, analysis, and control of power-electronic-based modern power systems.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1. Advanced topology and modeling of grid-following and grid-forming inverters.

2. Small-signal and large-signal stability of single and multiple power converters.

3. Advanced stability enhancement of small-signal and large-signal stability.

4. Model order reduction of single power converter and large-scale power systems.

5. Impedance modeling and analysis of single power converter and large-scale power systems.

6. The application of the AI in the power converter modeling, control, and stability analysis.

7. Real-time digital modelling and simulation technology of power converter.

8. Black-boxed stability analysis of the power converters in practical applications.

9. High-frequency high-density power converters design, modeling, control, and analysis.

10. Wireless power transfer in lighting, moter drive, battery charging applications.

11. Advanced power modular design, control, and analysis in the power distribution systems.

12. Report, investigation, and insights of power converter-related real-world accidents. 

The grid-forming (GFM) technology is emerging as a promising approach for massive integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) into electrical grids. Being controlled as a voltage source behind an impedance, GFM-IBRs can provide adequate services to enhance the reliability and resilience of the power network, and they also feature higher stability robustness against grid strength variation than conventional IBRs. In recent years, there is a growing consensus on the need of GFM-IBRs in the future power electronic dominated power systems. Many research and development (R&D) efforts have been initiated, by governments, power system operators, energy developers, and vendors of IBRS, on the technical specifications/grid codes, hardware and control solutions for GFM-IBRs. The special session intends to provide a forum for our colleagues to report the latest advances in modeling, stability analysis and hardware/controller design GFM-IBRs, which hopefully contribute to the application of this technology in modern power systems.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1. Small-signal modeling of GFM-IBRs;

2. Large-signal modeling of GFM-IBRs;

3. Fault-ride through control of GFM-IBRs;

4. GFM capability optimization;

5. Small-signal/transient stability analysis of GFM-IBRs;

6. Hardware design considerations of GFM-IBRs;

7. Analysis of interactions between GFM-IBRs, grid-following IBRs, and synchronous generators;

8. Industrial applications of GFM-IBRs in wind, solar, energy storage, HVDC and hydrogen systems;

9. Grid-code/technical specifications development for GFM-IBRs;

10. Control and protection coordination for GFM-IBR-dominated power systems.

With the rapid advancement of energy storage, batteries are gaining widespread popularity across various applications such as electric vehicles, smart grids, electric aircraft, commercial satellites, and so on. The flourishing field of artificial intelligence has ushered in a new era of intelligent battery management. Notable progress has been achieved in diverse areas including battery modeling and state estimation, health estimation and prediction, fault diagnosis, control and management, as well as recycling and reusing of secondary batteries. The unique attributes of flexibility, simplicity in modeling, and robust ability to tackle nonlinear modeling challenges are actively driving the evolution of intelligent battery management. This progress is further bolstered by the synergistic utilization of big data and cloud computing resources. The primary objective of the proposed special session is to present the latest strides in research pertaining to battery modeling and management, showcasing the pivotal role of artificial intelligence in these domains and its practical applications.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1. Battery health estimation and prediction, fault diagnosis;

2. Physics-informed machine learning for battery modeling and management;

3. Machin learning enabled parameter identification;

4. Interpretable machine learning;

5. Battery multi-state estimation using data-driven methods;

6. Reinforcement learning for smart control;

7. Thermal estimation and prediction;

8. Machine learning-based second-life battery applications;

9. Charging management.

10. Energy management for hybrid energy system;

The transition from a predominantly fossil fuel-based power generation towards renewable power sources, predominantly wind turbines and photovoltaic systems, inevitably leads towards an energy supply system that greatly depends on power electronics to feed the energy in the electrical grid. As all power electronic driven systems are intrinsically DC sources or loads, DC transmission and distribution systems become evident, not only because it is more efficient and cost effective, but also increases the ampacity of cables. The development and commercialization of medium-voltage, multi-megawatt DC-DC converters, also called solid-state DC transformers, is a key enabler to realize flexible and interconnected DC grids. Compared to AC transformers, solid-state DC transformers not only need to transform voltage and control power flow, but also need to offer similar efficiencies (up to 99%) at high switching frequencies, provide the same insulation levels and limit fault currents, that is, offer fault-ride-through capabilities. To fulfill these stringent requirements, innovations are made at all levels of power electronics, from semiconductor devices and passive components, to converter topologies and control, and then to protection and reliability. This special session aims at gathering latest research advances and industrial experiences in developing solid-state DC transformers for DC transmission and distribution grids.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

1. Architecture and topology innovation of solid-state DC transformers;

2. Advanced control strategy with optimized efficiency, fast dynamics, and improved stability;

3. Novel modeling and design methodologies for high-power medium-frequency transformers;

4. Fault current handling and fault tolerance operation of solid-state DC transformers;

5. Advanced real-time simulation and power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) validation methods;

6. Applications of new HV and MV wide bandgap devices in solid-state DC transformers;

7. Emerging applications of solid-state DC transformers in renewable power collection, green hydrogen production, subsea power transmission, and transportation electrification.

Hydrogen technologies have become increasingly significant in the global trend of green energy transition. By utilizing hydrogen as an energy carrier, renewable energy sources can be flexibly and effectively integrated into urban vehicles and inter-city heavy duty transportations, enabling a strong shift away from fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen driven automotive could offer longer driving ranges as hydrogen has higher energy density and better efficiency, especially in extreme weather conditions. However, there are still plenty of issues in applying hydrogen to modern complex automotives, which necessitates more advanced technologies in making elegant use of hydrogen. This special session focuses on extensive topics such as control, optimization, and operation techniques, to support the wide production and utilization of hydrogen to greenify the automotive industry.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to:

• Assessment of onboard hydrogen system
• Renewable generations for hydrogen production
• Coordinated control for hydrogen and battery in automotive power systems
• Fuel cell system modeling, analysis and/or control
• Hydrogen value chain analyses
• Energy management for hydrogen enabled onboard power system
• Fuel cell vehicle development and/or demonstrating running
• Fuel cell vehicle interacting with electricity market
• DC microgrid integrated with fuel cell
• Heuristic optimization for better fuel cell energy management
• Multi-objective energy management strategy of fuel cell vehicles
• Artificial intelligence for boosting hydrogen system efficiency
• Others