News

• Jan, 11, 2021 RE-PEARL welcomed new Ph.D. student Shangze Chen.
• Oct, 11, 2020 RE-PEARL students Luocheng Wang and Yafeng Wang participated 2020 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress & Expo (ECCE 2020) online. Luocheng presented the paper entitled “Evaluation of Wireless Communication Networks on Secondary Control in Underwater Microgrid”. Yafeng presented the paper entitled “A Hybrid Voltage Regulator with Arcless Tap Change and Stepless Voltage Regulation Functions”.
• Jul, 2020 RE-PEARL student Luocheng Wang published the paper entitled “Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control With Secondary Problem Formulation for Power Loss and Thermal Stress Reductions” in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.
• Jun, 2020 RE-PEARL student Yafeng Wang published the paper entitled “An Arcless Step Voltage Regulator Based on Series-Connected Converter for Branch Current Suppression” in IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics.
• Mar, 15, 2020 RE-PEARL student Yafeng Wang participated 2020 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2020) online. Yafeng presented the paper entitled “An Arcless Step Voltage Regulator based on Paralleled Power Electronics Converter Configuration”.
• Oct, 29, 2019 RE-PEARL student Haichen Liu participated 2019 IEEE Wide-Bandgap Power Devices & Applications (WiPDA 2019) at Raleigh, NC. Haichen presented the paper entitled “Efficiency Improvement Evaluation and Loss Modeling of a Hybrid Switch-Based T-NPC Inverter”.
• Sep, 29, 2019 RE-PEARL student Luocheng Wang participated 2019 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress & Expo (ECCE 2019) at Baltimore, MD. Luocheng presented two papers entitled “Model Predictive Speed Control with Dynamic Reference for Electric Drive of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine” and “Model Predictive Control with Secondary Objective Functions for Power Module Loss Reduction”.
• Sep, 1, 2019 RE-PEARL welcomed visiting scholar Dr. Yao Wang from Hebei University of Technology and visiting student Wen Wu from Beijing Jiaotong University.
• Aug, 20, 2019 RE-PEARL welcomed new Ph.D. student Kamal Chandra Paul, new undergraduate students Jonathan Bishop and Stuart Draughn.
• Apr, 8, 2019 Congratulations to Tianze Chen on successfully passing the M.S. Defense!
• Nov, 21, 2018 Congratulations to Xiwen Xu and Xiaokai Sun on successfully passing the M.S. Defense!
• Aug, 13, 2018 RE-PEARL welcomed visiting student Hanyu Liu from Tsinghua University, China and Tianqi Zou from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. 
• Jun, 28, 2018 RE-PEARL student Yafeng Wang and Xiwen Xu participated 2018 Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG 2018) at Charlotte, NC. Yafeng Wang presented the paper entitled “An Arcless Voltage Regulator Based on Hybrid Tap Changing Topology”. Xiwen Xu presented the paper entitled “A Hybrid Switch based Arcless Voltage Regulator”.

• Jun, 13, 2018 RE-PEARL student Luocheng Wang participated 2018 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference (ITEC 2018) at Long Beach, CA and presented the paper entitled “An Inductive Power Transfer System Design for Rail Application”.
• Apr, 5, 2018 RE-PEARL student Luocheng Wang participated the Annual CSI meeting at Wanchese, NC and presented the paper entitled “Wave Energy Monitoring and Health Management Using Underwater Wireless Communication Network”.
• Jan, 9, 2018 RE-PEARL welcomed new master students Tianze Chen, Xiaokai Sun, and visiting student Haichen Liu from Beijing Jiaotong University, China.
• Oct, 2, 2017 RE-PEARL student Alex Barthelme participated ECCE 2017 at Cincinnati, Ohio and presented the paper entitled “A Hybrid AC and DC Distribution Architecture in Data Centers”.
• Sep, 20, 2017 Congratulations to RE-PEARL student Alex Barthelme for winning the travel grant for ECCE 2017 in Cincinnati, OH, October 1^st-5^th. Alex will be presenting the paper entitled “A Hybrid AC and DC Distribution Architecture in Data Centers” at ECCE 2017.
• Sep, 15, 2017 Welcome Dr. Daniel Fregosi to join RE-PEARL group as a postdoc researcher.
• Sep, 9, 2017 Dr. Cheng Luo from Eaton Corporate Research and Technology, Shanghai, China visited Dr. Zhao at RE-PEARL research lab.
• Sep, 6, 2017  A UNC Charlotte senior design team mentored by Dr. Tiefu Zhao, Dr. Shen-En Chen and Dr. Keith Baarson will be investigating on dynamic wireless charging for rail application. The team includes five senior students from ECE and ME departments . The project was sponsored by RPS, McDowell Engineering and EPIC.
• Aug, 21, 2017 Congratulations to Luocheng and Yafeng on receiving the prestigious Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA). The EPIC GRAs are awarded to graduate students who exhibit a dedication to academic excellence and a novel interest in power and energy research.
• Aug, 21, 2017 RE-PEARL welcomed new Ph.D. student Yafeng Wang!
• July, 7, 2017 RE-PEARL welcomed new Ph.D. student Luocheng Wang, M.S. students Xiwen Xu and Alex Barthelme!

• Jun, 6, 2017 Dr. Zhao and other EPIC faculties welcomed TBEA‘s visit to UNC Charlotte. TBEA is the world leading green and smart energy service provider with business in more than 20 countries and areas all over the world.
• Mar, 31, 2017 Dr. Qiang Fu from Eaton Corporate Research and Technology, Menomonee Falls, WI, visited Dr. Zhao at RE-PEARL research lab.
• Mar, 23, 2017 Dr. Kai Sun from Tsinghua University, China visited Dr. Zhao and EPIC’s research and teaching labs.
• Mar, 22, 2016 Dynex Semiconductor/Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric visited Dr. Zhao at EPIC’s Flexible Power Lab and Duke Energy Smart Grid Lab. Dynex Semiconductor is a global supplier of products in the field of power semiconductor devices, including IGBTs, various types of thyristor and GTOs. Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric is the world’s leading propulsion and control systems provider for high speed trains, mass transit, electric locomotives and diesel locomotives.
• Oct, 10, 2016 Eaton – Cooper Power System donated distribution voltage regulator and controller to support Dr. Zhao’s research at UNC Charlotte. The donation will serve as a valuable platform to collaborate with power industry and conduct research on grid edge power electronics.

• Sep, 30, 2016 Dr. Zhao was mentioned in the news (in Chinese) from Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University, China.

• Sep, 19, 2016 Dr. Zhao attended ECCE 2016 as part of the organizing committee.

• Sep, 12, 2016 Dr. Yongdong Li and Dr. Zedong Zheng from Tsinghua University, China visited Dr. Zhao and EPIC’s research and teaching labs.