Modern Power Converters for Renewable Energy Applications

Natarajan Balasubramanian Muthu Selvan, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai,. He has 20 years of teaching experience which includes 10 years of research experience in the field of power system optimization. Prior to joining SSN, he was with Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, during the year 2004-2005. He received his B.E. (EEE - Distinction) degree (2000) and M.B.A. (Finance) degree (2002) from Madurai Kamaraj University. He obtained an M.E. degree (2004) and a Ph.D. degree (2013) in the field of power system engineering from Anna University, Chennai, India. His areas of interest include power system optimization, application of power electronics controllers to power system, and renewable energy systems.

During his Ph.D., he developed an enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm by the combined application of Gaussian and Cauchy distribution for solving various power system optimization problems. His Ph.D. thesis, "Application of Gaussian and Cauchy Inspired PSO Algorithms for Power System Optimization Problems", was well commended by the examiners and Eminent Professors from IISc Bangalore and IIT Madras. He has published 20 research papers in refereed international journals and more than 25 research papers in proceedings of international and national conferences. He is a recognized supervisor to guide Ph.D. degree programs offered by Anna University. He has successfully guided four Ph.D. scholars in the field of Power Electronics and Power Systems. He has received a research grant of Rs. 5.5 lakhs from SSN Trust for the project titled "Realization of Swarm Intelligence Using Real-ime Deep Learning Algorithm".

He is a senior member of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and life member of Indian Society for Technical Education, and a fellow of The Institution of Engineers, India. He is a recognized Chartered Engineer from The Institution of Engineers (India). He is the recipient of the Professional Award titled "Innovative Technological Scientific Research & Dedicated Professor Award" from the Society of Engineers and Technicians Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in association with the Journal of Engineering Technological Research in 2017. He has organized several international and national conferences, workshops, and short term training program courses along with Indian society for technical education at SSN. He has also successfully conducted 6-day induction/refresher programmes sponsored (Rs. 3 lakhs) by AICTE-STE titled "Renewable Energy Sources Integrated Smart Power Grid Scenarios and Control Aspects Using HVDC and FACTS Controllers" in July 2018. He has delivered invited lectures, keynote addresses, and chaired technical sessions at various international conferences. He is also an active reviewer for various international journals and technical book publications.

Venkatraman Thiyagarajan, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai. He has about 8 years of teaching experience. He received his B.E. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering with distinction and M.E. degree in Power Systems Engineering with distinction from Anna University, Chennai, India. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Division of Power System Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy (CEG), Anna University, Chennai. He has published 30 research papers in refereed international journals and 75 research papers in the proceedings of various international conferences. He has coordinated and organized various national-level workshops and international conferences. He has received several best paper awards for his research papers at various international conferences. He is a recognized supervisor for Anna University. His areas of research include power converters, stability, and control of electric power grids, renewable energy systems, and microgrid. He is the reviewer for many international journals. He is a senior member of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of The Institution of Engineers, India.

Cheng Siong Chin, Ph.D., is a chair professor in Intelligent Systems Modelling and Simulation at Newcastle University and an Adjunct Professor at Chongqing University, School of Automotive Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Control Engineering at Research Robotics Centre at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2008 and his M.Sc. (Distinction) in Advanced Control and Systems Engineering from The University of Manchester in 2001. Before moving into academia, he worked in the consumer electronics industry for a few years. He obtained six Economic Development Board (EDB)-Industrial Postgraduate Programme (IPP) and two Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) grants from the Singapore government in intelligent systems design, simulation, and predictive analytics as a PI and Co-PI. He has made more than 170 publications including 5 authored books, and has 2 Singapore Patent Applications and 3 US Patents. He also received DCASE2019 Judges' Award in IEEE AASP Challenge on DCASE2019. He is an associate editor for IEEE Access Journal, Applied Artificial Intelligence, and IEEE Transportation Electrification Community (TEC) eNewsletter, and is an editorial board member of Electronics. He has served as general chair, keynote speaker, session chair, and technical committee member at numerous international conferences.