5072
9, SEPTEMBER 2014
Mode-Adaptive Decentralized Control for Renewable
DC Microgrid With Enhanced Reliability and
Flexibility
Yunjie Gu, Xin Xiang, Wuhua Li, Member, IEEE, and Xiangning He, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—A mode-adaptive decentralized control strategy is
proposed for the power management of a dc microgrid with multi-
ple renewable distributed generators and energy storage systems.
In the presented solution, the dc bus voltage signal is used not
only to enable power sharing among different sources, but also
to designate microgrid operation modes and facilitate seamless
mode transitions. With this mode-adaptive operation mechanism,
a greater control freedom can be achieved than the conventional
dc voltage droop control scheme. More importantly, this approach
features fully self-disciplined regulation of distributed converters
without an extra control center or communication link. Therefore,
both reliability and flexibility can be enhanced. Meanwhile, a novel
mode definition criterion is also provided to highlight the special
characteristics of the dc microgrid which is different from an ac
one. Three typical operation conditions are summarized according
to which type of sources are dominating the power balance. Finally,
the effectiveness of the proposed technique is verified experimen-
tally based on a composite dc microgrid test system.
Index Terms—DC microgrid, decentralized control, mode-
adaptive.
I. INTRODUCTION
HE microgrid provides a new paradigm for the power gen-
T eration and delivery, and is taken as a promising building
block for the future smart power system [1]–[3]. In the mi-
crogrid, a cluster of distributed generators (DGs) and loads are
organized as an autonomous system with advanced management
strategies. As a result, it can be designed to accommodate high
penetration of intermittent renewable resources [4], improve en-
ergy efficiency [5], [6], provide ancillary services for the bulk
power system [7], and enhance power quality and reliability for
local consumers [8].
The dc-based power systems driven by power electronic con-
verters are envisaged as an enabling technology for the mi-
crogrid concept. Compared with the conventional ac structure,
Manuscript received August 1, 2013; revised October 5, 2013; accepted
November 29, 2013. Date of current version April 30, 2014. This paper was
supported in part by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Pro-
gram 2014CB247400) and the National Nature Science Foundation of China
(51222702). Recommended for publication by Associate Editor Dr. M. Liserre.
The authors are with the College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang Univer-
sity, Hangzhou 310027, China (e-mail: guyunjie@zju.edu.cn; xiangxin320320
@gmail.com; hxn@zju.edu.cn).
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/TPEL.2013.2294204
0885-8993 © 2013 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 29, NO.
the dc-based solution can achieve higher efficiency by elimi-
nating the extra ac/dc and dc/ac conversion stages, since many
renewable DGs, energy storage systems (ESSs), and an increas-
ing number of loads directly utilize dc power [9]. Additionally,
the dc system offers greater controllability, because it does not
suffer from synchronization and reactive power compensation
problems which are intrinsic to the ac grid [10]–[12]. Further-
more, the dc microgrid can be fully decoupled from the utility
grid by an interface converter, enabling the seamless transi-
tion between the grid-connected and islanded operation modes.
Because of the aforementioned factors, the dc microgrid is re-
ceiving increased attention recently, especially for small-scale
commercial and residential applications [13].
An intelligent control and management system is one of the
crucial points for the microgrid operation. The target of such a
system is coordinating the distributed microgrid terminals, e.g.,
the DGs, ESSs, and smart loads, in order to mitigate the power
intermittency and uncertainty, and provide a stable, reliable, and
economic power supply for both local customers and the utility.
A series of control strategies has been published for ac micro-
grids, leading to a standardized hierarchical power management
framework [14]–[19]. However, these methods cannot be fully
migrated into dc microgrids because of the aforementioned spe-
cial features of the dc system.
As with their ac counterparts, the control strategies for dc
microgrids can also be categorized into two classes, namely
the centralized and decentralized control structure. For the cen-
tralized scheme, all the microgrid terminals are regulated by
an energy control center (ECC) through communication. An
example is presented in [20] of a data center microgrid with so-
phisticated operation modes and controllable mode transitions.
However, the centralized regulation relies heavily upon the ECC
itself, resulting in inadequate system reliability and scalability.
Therefore, this configuration is not suitable for an expandable
microgrid with an open boundary and a large number of termi-
nals [21].
To solve this problem, the decentralized control structure is
proposed in which the distributed terminals make independent
control decisions based on the local information [22]. Volt-
age/current (V/I) or voltage/power (V/P) droop control schemes
are the classical decentralized power management methods used
on dc microgrids [22], [23]. In such schemes, the deviation of
the dc bus voltage is used for autonomous power sharing among
different sources [24]. Despite improved reliability, the flexi-
bility of the droop control scheme is limited because all the
terminals in the system behave rigidly according to the preset
GU et al.: MODE-ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED CONTROL FOR RENEWABLE DC MICROGRID
Fig. 1. Composite dc microgrid system layout.
droop curves without a flexible mode transition mechanism to
react to changing conditions [25].
In this paper, a mode-adaptive decentralized control scheme
is introduced as an improvement of the classical droop method.
In the presented technique, the droop curves of different types
of terminals are arranged at separated voltage ranges, so that the
dc bus voltage can be used to designate operation modes and
facilitate adaptive mode transitions. This approach features fully
self-disciplined operation of each terminal without ECC or extra
communication. Therefore, both the reliability and flexibility
can be enhanced. Furthermore, detailed implementation of the
proposed concept is demonstrated based on a composite dc
microgrid test system, which consists of PV and wind power
DGs, Li-ion battery ESSs, local loads, and an interfacing dc–ac
converter connected to the utility grid, as shown in Fig. 1.
This paper is organized as follows. A general model for the
converters adopted in the dc microgrid is described in Section II
to lay the basis for system-level control. The principle of
the mode-adaptive decentralized control strategy is explained
Section III. The detailed controller implementation is presented
in Sections IV. The experimental results of the steady-state op-
eration and transient-state mode transitions are displayed in
Section V. The main contributions of this paper are summarized
in the last section.
II. SYSTEM-LEVEL REPRESENTATION OF CONVERTERS
The coordinated operation of the dc microgrid is dependent on
the power regulation capability of the converters in the system,
including boost-type dc/dc converters for PV panels, bidirec-
tional dc/dc converters for ESS components, ac/dc converters
for wind turbine generators, and dc/ac converters for utility
interfacing [26]–[29]. These various types of converters have
different working principles and control strategies. Therefore, a
general description of the individual converters should be ob-
tained before defining the power sharing and mode transition
mechanism of the entire microgrid system.
Fortunately, the diversified converter topologies and work-
ing patterns can be independently handled by the local con-
troller embedded in the converter itself. As a result, a simplified
system-level converter model can be obtained which focuses on
the external behavior rather than the internal details. Since most
converters can have current regulating loops or are inherently
current source converters, they can be represented as a control-
lable current source, with the small-signal dynamics described
by a transfer function Gconv (s), as shown in Fig. 2 [25].
5073
Fig. 2. Equivalent model for current regulated converters.
Fig. 3. Terminal regulating unit and the equivalent model.
Fig. 4. Bus regulating unit and the equivalent model.
Despite this unified representation, the converters in the dc
microgrid have dual control targets, that is, to regulate the power
flow of the local terminal or to maintain the voltage stability of
the microgrid system. Since the two operation goals may be
in conflict, each converter can only choose one of them at a
particular time. Therefore, according to the individual control
objectives, the converter units can be further categorized into
two classes, namely the terminal regulating unit and the bus
regulating unit.
A. Terminal Regulating Unit
The goal of the terminal regulating unit is to satisfy the power
demand or deliver the power production of the local terminal.
Such converter units make decisions only based on the terminal
condition, and do not take part in sustaining the power balance
of the microgrid system. The noncontrollable loads and the
renewable DGs working with maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) are typical examples of terminal regulating units. For
these units, the converter act as a power adapter, so the power
consumption or production does not vary with the dc voltage
level. That is to say, the terminal regulating unit serves as a
constant power load/source in the microgrid system, as shown
in Fig. 3 [30].
B. Bus Regulating Unit
Unlike the self-serving terminal regulating unit, the bus reg-
ulating unit takes charge of maintaining the power balance and
voltage stability of the entire microgrid system. Such units ac-
tively regulate the bus voltage by adjusting the current injection
into the microgrid based on the dc voltage feedback signal.
Therefore, they can be described as a voltage source in series
with the equivalent impedance Zeq , as depicted in Fig. 4.
The bus regulating unit is the cornerstone for supporting the
dc microgrid stability. A high proportion of the bus regulating
units in the microgrid system may improve dc voltage stabil-
ity by providing stronger compensation reaction in respond to
5074 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 29, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014

power variations. From this point of view, an important function

of the decentralized microgrid control scheme is to adaptively
assign the bus regulation duty to different terminals according
to real-time conditions, in order to optimize power flow and
guarantee stable and reliable operation. This is discussed in the
next section.

III. MODE-ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED CONTROL STRATEGY

To enhance flexibility of the dc microgrid, the control target of
each terminal needs to be adjusted actively in real time. In other
words, each converter unit should be capable to switch adap-
tively between the terminal regulating state and bus regulating
state according to system conditions.
The mode-adaptive decentralized control strategy introduced
in this section utilizes the dc bus voltage itself to designate
different microgrid modes and facilitate self-disciplined control
target switching and power sharing. As a result, both reliability
and flexibility can be improved for the microgrid system. The
comprehensive mode definition criterion and seamless mode
transition mechanism are described in the following.

A. DC Microgrid Operation-Mode Definition

For a conventional ac microgrid, it is a common practice
to discriminate between the grid-connected mode and the is-
landed mode, because different operation principles and control
strategies are involved in each condition. For the dc microgrid,
however, this mode classification is not suitable, because the dc
bus is decoupled from the utility grid by the dc–ac interface con-
verter. As a result, the events on the main grid may not directly
affect the microgrid operation.
Moreover, utility constraints have to be accounted for as well,
especially when microgrid penetration into the power system
becomes significant. It is desired that the microgrid should be
able to provide power support and ancillary service to the main
grid, as required by the power system operator [31]. From this
point of view, it is not feasible to treat the utility as a “super
terminal” with infinite power capacities. The utility interface
terminal also requires attentive regulation to deal with its power
and energy limitations, just like the DG and ESS.
Because of these considerations, a novel mode definition cri-
terion is proposed in this paper. Generally, there are three possi-
ble source types in the microgrid system, namely the DG, ESS,
and the utility; all with bus regulation capability. Considering
that there should be at least one bus regulating unit in the mi-
Fig. 5. Definition of operation modes for the proposed system: (a)Utility-
crogrid to maintain dc voltage stability, three distinct operation dominating mode. (b) Storage-dominating mode. (c) Generation-dominating
modes can be defined according to which type of terminal takes mode.
bus regulation responsibility, as shown in Fig. 5.
When the DG power generation and ESS reserve are not
adequate to meet the demand of the local loads, the deficit responsibility, whereas the utility interface converter regulates
can only be compensated by importing from the utility. In this the power exchange with the main grid according to the power
situation, the utility interface converter should maintain power system operator configuration. Meanwhile, the renewable DGs
balance within the microgrid and serve as the bus regulating operate in the MPPT mode to maximize the energy harvest. This
unit. This mode is highlighted by Fig. 5(a), and named as the mode is termed the storage-dominating mode and demonstrated
utility-dominating mode in this paper to accentuate this feature. in Fig. 5(b).
Similarly, when there is sufficient power and energy re- If the power generation from the DGs is higher than the local
serve within the ESS, the ESS terminals assume bus regulation consumption and the power surplus exceeds the capacity of both
GU et al.: MODE-ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED CONTROL FOR RENEWABLE DC MICROGRID
Fig. 6. Adaptive mode transitions based on voltage deviation: (a) Voltage
range definition. (b) Mode transition mechanism.
the ESS and utility grid, then the DG terminals should change
into bus regulating units. In this situation, the DG converters
exit the MPPT mode and start to actively limit power generation
to maintain power balance. This mode is called the generation-
dominating mode, as shown in Fig. 5(c).
The advantage of such a mode classification method is to
establish a clear relationship between the operation modes and
the power balance conditions. More importantly, it also enables
mode designation and seamless transition according to the dc
bus voltage deviation, as explained in the following.
B. Adaptive Mode Transition Mechanism
One important feature for the dc microgrid is that the system
power balance condition is indicated by the dc bus voltage. For
example, the power surplus may result in the charging of the
bus capacitors, hence the rise of bus voltage, and vice versa.
Therefore, the dc bus voltage itself can be used to indicate
the operation mode and enable adaptive and seamless mode
transitions. Based on this idea, the operation range of the bus
voltage is divided into three separated regions, each of which
corresponds to a particular operation mode, as shown in Fig. 6.
The DG, ESS, and utility interface converters make autonomous
decisions based only on the dc bus voltage to switch between
the bus regulating and terminal regulating states adaptively.
For example, if the microgrid operates in the storage-
dominating mode and runs out of power and/or energy reserves
because of the rise of local loads, power interruption of DGs,
or for any other reasons which may cause a power deficiency,
the dc voltage will decrease due to the power deficit. When the
voltage sag detected by the utility interface converter reaches
the lower threshold Vlow , it autonomously changes into a bus
5075
TABLE I
SUMMARY OF EACH MODE AND ITS CHARACTERISTIC
Fig. 7. Improved mode-adaptive droop curve.
regulating unit to prevent further voltage collapse. As a result,
the microgrid shifts into the utility-dominating mode.
Conversely, if the local generation recovers during the utility-
dominating mode, the bus voltage rises until the ESS units attain
bus regulation responsibility. In this way, the microgrid switches
back to the storage-dominating mode.
Similar mode-switching events occur between the storage-
dominating mode and the generation-dominating mode. The
detailed target and characteristic of each operation mode and
possible mode-switching patterns are summarized in Fig. 6 and
Table I.
The variables appearing in Fig. 6 and Table I are defined as
follows:
PDG DG power generation available in the MPPT state;
Pac rated power output from the microgrid to the ac utility
grid, which can be determined by the power system operator;
during a blackout, the value is zero;
Pload local load power consumption;
PESS ch , PESS dsc ESS units maximum charging and dis-
charging power, these values are dependent on ESS state of
charge, e.g., if fully discharged, PESS dsc = 0;
Vbus DC bus voltage;
Vhigh , Vlow threshold voltages for the three operation modes.
Inclinada
IV. DETAILED CONTROLLER IMPLEMENTATION
The previously mentioned mode designation and transition
mechanisms can be implemented by an appropriate modification
of the conventional droop method, as shown in Fig. 7 [32]. In the
improved approach, the voltage–power (V–P) characteristic for
each terminal is divided into two sections. The drooped section
corresponds to the bus regulating state, while the constant power
section represents the terminal regulating state. The V–P curves
5076
Fig. 8. Control algorithm for the mode-adaptive droop curve.
Fig. 9. Relationship between the control parameter and V–P curve.
slope?
of different terminals are configured at the respective voltage
ranges according to the mode definition. With this arrangement,
a particular group of converters can automatically switch to the
bus regulation state and maintain the power balance actively
when the bus voltage falls into the corresponding range. Since
the proposed solution is an extension of the conventional droop
control scheme, it inherits the advantage of autonomous power
sharing among multiple units. To ensure consistency, the mode
umbral
transition voltage threshold Vhigh and Vlow should be identical
throughout the microgrid. Meanwhile, the slop of each droop
curve should be in reverse proportion to the power rating, so
that different bus regulation units pick up the amount of power
corresponding to their power capacity.
The detailed control algorithm to realize this V–P relationship
is presented in Fig. 8. The shape and position of the V–P curve is
determined by four parameters, namely the droop rate Rdro op ,
voltage reference Vref , and power constraints Pm ax and Pm in .
Taking the ESS unit as an example, the physical meaning of these
parameters is depicted in Fig. 9. Vref should be set in accordance
with the voltage range of the corresponding microgrid mode,
while Rdro op is inversely proportional to the converter power
rating to enable appropriate power sharing. The value of Pm ax
and Pm in is determined by the power and energy limitation. For
a DG unit, Pm ax comes from the MPPT algorithm, while Pm in
equals zero. For a utility interface unit, Pm ax and Pm in are set
by power system operator dispatching.
The transfer function Gconv (s) represents the converter’s cur-
rent response dynamics, as described in Section II. Gconv (s)
may have diversified forms for different converter types and
current regulating methods. Fortunately, thanks to the fast con-
verter switching action and the evolution of control technolo-
gies, Gconv (s) generally has a low-pass characteristic with a
high bandwidth. As a result, it may not affect the performance
of the droop control loop because their bandwidth is decoupled.
For example, for a three-phase voltage source inverter
with direct power control, Gconv (s) can be simplified as
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 29, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014
Fig. 10. Composite renewable dc microgrid test system.
Fig. 11. Tested dc microgrid system layout.
follows [33], [34]:
1
Gconv (s) = (1)
τs + 1
in which the time constant τ is on the scale of a switching
cycle. If the bandwidth of the droop control loop is designed to
be much less than the switching frequency, the delay effect of
Gconv (s) is negligible.
V. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
In this section, a composite dc microgrid laboratory test plat-
form is established to demonstrate the performance of the mode-
adaptive decentralized control strategy. A picture of the tested
microgrid is displayed in Fig. 10. The detailed system layout
and terminal configuration is shown in Fig. 11 and Table II.
To be compatible with the conventional 380-V three-phase
ac distribution system in some countries, the dc bus voltage of
the tested system is set to be between 600 and 750 V. The cor-
responding voltage of each operation mode is evenly allocated
within this range, as listed in Table III.
Three typical scenarios are emulated to exhibit the reliable
and flexible functions of the presented mode-adaptive control
strategy under various circumstances. In order to unify the re-
sults, a per-unit system is used in describing all the quantities,
with the base values set to the corresponding normal values. For
the dc bus voltage, the normal value is considered as 600 V.
GU et al.: MODE-ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED CONTROL FOR RENEWABLE DC MICROGRID
TABLE II
LIST OF TERMINALS IN THE PRESENTED MICROGRID
TABLE III
VOLTAGE RANGE DEFINITION FOR EACH OPERATION MODE
A. Storage to Generation-Dominating Mode Transition Test
In this case, the microgrid initially operates in the storage-
dominating mode, then a wing gust results in the significant
increase in the wind power output which exceeds the power
capability of the energy storage and utility interface units in the
system.
The experimental results are given in Fig. 12. The wind power
converter operates in the MPPT mode until the ESS unit reaches
the power saturation point, as shown in Fig. 12(a). Consequently,
the bus voltage rises above the mode transition threshold, so
all the DG units, including the wind power converter, switch into
the bus regulating state to actively limit the power generation, to
maintain power balance. Eventually, the dc bus voltage stabilizes
at a new operating point in the generation-dominating mode, as
displayed in Fig. 12 (b).
When the wind gust ceases, the DG power declines, and the
microgrid reverts to the storage-dominating mode, as displayed
in Fig. 13.
B. Voltage Stability and the Power Sharing Test
This test aims at verifying the voltage stability and power
sharing performance of the proposed control scheme. In the
storage-dominating mode, an oscillating current is injected by a
PV converter into the dc bus to emulate DG power fluctuations.
The bus voltage and output power of each ESS converter is
monitored and displayed in Fig. 14.
The bus voltage ripple is less than 5% under 50% PV power
variation, because power surplus or deficit is compensated by
ESS units. Static and dynamic power sharing accuracy of the
two ESS converters is ensured with the mode-adaptive droop
5077
Fig. 12. Switching to generation-dominating mode during wind gust: (a)
Speed-power trajectory. (b) Voltage and power during mode transition.
control technique. Meanwhile, the utility interface unit feeds
a smooth power into the grid according to the power system
operator regulation. As a result, the DG power uncertainty is
mitigated through coordination within the microgrid itself.
C. Storage to Utility-Dominating Mode Transition Test
In the third test, all the DGs are shutdown at a particular
time to emulate adverse meteorological conditions for renew-
able power generation. As a result, the microgrid shifts into the
utility-dominating mode as shown in Fig. 15(a). In the dynamic
process following a step change of PPV , Pbat takes action first
to keep the microgrid in the storage-dominating mode, until it
reaches its power limitation. After that, vbus further decreases
due to bus capacitor discharging. When vbus reaches the mode
transition threshold Vlow , Pgrid starts to increase and the mi-
crogrid shifts to the utility-dominating mode. Finally, vbus is
stabilized at a new balance point after a short adjustment. Sim-
ilar processes can be observed in the reverse transition back to
the storage-dominating mode displayed in Fig. 15(b).
If the utility interface converter is not capable of support-
ing the load on itself, the bus voltage will further droop. Then,
5078 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 29, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014

Fig. 14. Fluctuation compensation and power sharing among ESS units: (a)
Power fluctuation and ESS power sharing. (b) Bus voltage and utility power.

Fig. 13. Returning to the storage-dominating mode: (a) Speed-power trajec-

tory. (b) Voltage and power during mode transition.

the controllable load can be disconnected from the microgrid

successively according to their priorities to maintain the power
balance [35]. Load management can form another operation
mode in the mode-adaptive control strategy, but is not yet cov-
ered in this paper.

VI. CONCLUSION
The mode-adaptive decentralized dc microgrid control strat-
egy presented in this paper takes advantage of the dc voltage
itself to facilitate flexible mode definition, seamless mode tran-
sition, and reliable power sharing. This solution is based on the
fully decentralized operation of the distributed converters with-
out an additional communication link. As a result, both the mi-
crogrid reliability and flexibility can be enhanced. Meanwhile, a
novel mode definition criterion is also proposed to highlight the
feature of the dc microgrid from the power management point of
view. Three typical working conditions are summarized, namely
the generation-dominating mode, storage-dominating mode and
utility-dominating mode. Detailed implementation based on the
laboratory dc microgrid test system verifies the performance of Fig. 15. Switching between utility- and storage-dominating modes: (a)
the proposed strategy. Switching to utility-dominating mode. (b) Recovering from DG outage.
GU et al.: MODE-ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED CONTROL FOR RENEWABLE DC MICROGRID
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Yunjie Gu was born in Hebei, China, in 1987. He re-
ceived the B.Sc. degree from the Department of Elec-
trical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou,
China, in 2010, where he is currently working toward
the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering.
From May 2011 to January 2012, he was a
Research Intern at GE Global Research Center,
Shanghai, China. From July to September 2013, he
was a Student Visitor at Newcastle University, New-
castle upon Tyne, U.K. His research interests include
control and networking of power conversion systems.
Xin Xiang was born in Hunan, China, in 1990. He
received the B.Sc. degree from the School of Infor-
mation and Electrical Engineering from the Harbin
Institute of Technology, China, in 2011, and is cur-
rently working toward the M.Sc. degree in the Col-
lege of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University,
Hangzhou, China.
His research interests include dc/dc converters and
the photovoltaic power system.
5080
Wuhua Li (M’09) received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. de-
grees in applied power electronics and electrical engi-
neering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China,
in 2002 and 2008, respectively.
From September 2004 to March 2005, he was a
Research Intern, and from January 2007 to June 2008,
a Research Assistant in GE Global Research Center,
Shanghai, China. From July 2008 to April 2010, he
was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the College of Electri-
cal Engineering, Zhejiang University. In May 2010,
he became a Faculty Member at Zhejiang University
as a Lecturer. In December 2010, he was promoted as an Associate Professor.
From July 2010 to September 2011, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the De-
partment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto,
ON, Canada. His research interests include high-efficiency power converters and
renewable energy power conversion system. He has published more than 100
peer-reviewed technical papers and holds more than 30 issued/pending patents.
Dr. Li received the 2011 Top Ten Excellent Young Staff Award and the
2012 Distinguished Young Scholar from Zhejiang University, the 2012 Out-
standing Young Researcher Award from Zhejiang Province and the 2012 Delta
Young Scholar from Delta Environmental & Educational Foundation due to his
excellent teaching and research contributions. He received three Scientific and
Technological Achievements Awards from Zhejiang Provincial Government and
the State Educational Ministry of China in 2009 and 2011, respectively.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 29, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014
Xiangning He (M’95–SM’96–F’10) received the
B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Nanjing University
of Aeronautical and Astronautical, Nanjing, China,
in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree
from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 1989.
From 1985 to 1986, he was an Assistant Engineer
at the 608 Institute of Aeronautical Industrial General
Company, Zhuzhou, China. From 1989 to 1991, he
was a Lecturer at Zhejiang University. In 1991, he ob-
tained a Fellowship from the Royal Society of U.K.,
and conducted research in the Department of Com-
puting and Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K., as
a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for two years. In 1994, he joined Zhejiang Uni-
versity as an Associate Professor. Since 1996, he has been a Full Professor in the
College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University. He was the Director of
the Power Electronics Research Institute and the Head of the Department of Ap-
plied Electronics, and he is currently the Vice Dean of the College of Electrical
Engineering, Zhejiang University. His research interests are power electronics
and their industrial applications. He is the author or coauthor of more than 280
papers and one book “Theory and Applications of Multi-level Converters.” He
holds 22 patents.
Dr. He received the 1989 Excellent Ph.D. Graduate Award, the 1995 Elite
Prize Excellence Award, the 1996 Outstanding Young Staff Member Award
and 2006 Excellent Staff Award from Zhejiang University for his teaching and
research contributions. He received seven Scientific and Technological Achieve-
ments Awards from Zhejiang Provincial Government and the State Educational
Ministry of China in 1998, 2002, 2009 and 2011 respectively, and six Excellent
Paper Awards. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and has been appointed as the IEEE
Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Power Electronics Society, in 2011. He is
also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (formerly IEE),
U.K.