Integration of control and measurement functionalities inside the power modules is a strategic research field for both the new industrial and renewable energy systems applications, such as reliability in harsh environments and compact design is extremely important for the aircraft and automotive sectors. The project aims at developing and validating new high-efficiency power modules (with embedded control functionalities) based on new semiconductor devices characterized by high power density, working at high frequencies and at high temperatures. The contribution of the Politecnico di Bari research group regards the design and construction of power converters demonstrators for aircraft, automotive, industrial and photovoltaic applications.

The project aims at developing and validating propulsion systems technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) having long and high altitude missions. The focus of the project is a propulsion system based on a two-stroke diesel engine adopting a hybrid supercharging system to guarantee the target power in high altitude missions. The supercharging system includes standard turbo charger directly coupled with a high-speed electrical machine. Such a system can recover energy from the turbine or give energy to the compressor depending on the mission profile so to optimize overall system performances. A synchronous reluctance motor/generator capable of developing 5 kW at 50.000 rpm was developed in the Energy Factory Bari laboratory, a joint initiative of Politecnico di Bari and AVIO AERO.

This paper presents design considerations for a low altitude short endurance electric powered ultralight aircraft with solar panels. The paper focuses on the conversion of the ultralight propulsion system from endothermic into electric, discarding the mechanic and dynamic issues from the design, and addressing the sizing consideration principally on the energy management system components. A tool is presented to optimize the choice of the battery and the panel mass.

This paper surveys the proposed solutions for the design of an ultra-light Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, investigating the requirements for the components of the structure. In particular this paper focuses on the electrical components of the project, showing a brief review of the single objects and their applicability for the design of a Solar Powered Airplane. The aim of this paper is to offer a starting point for researchers who wants to approach the design of electric drives for solar powered airplanes, giving basic information about the state of the art of the UAV projects and the requirements for the power system management elements.

This paper surveys the proposed solutions for the design of an ultra-light Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, showing the most recent advances in technology for the power system of the design. In particular this paper focuses on the electrical components of the project, showing a brief review of the single objects and their applicability for the design of a Solar-Powered Airplane. The aim of this paper is to collect all the useful information for people who wants to begin a design process for an ultra light aerial vehicle with electric propulsion system and a solar energy conversion source, giving basic information about the state of the art of the UAV projects and the requirements for the power system management elements.

In this paper the authors present a model suitable to convert ultralight airplanes propulsion system from endothermic into electric, focusing only on the power management issues, discarding the mechanical and dynamic ones. The model developed represents a tool to correctly size the propulsion and energy management system of ultra-light aircrafts designed for short endurance flights. The authors performed several experiments to validate the model and to verify the efficiency of the designing tool.

This paper focuses on a design method for feedback and feedforward fractional order control of electromechanical systems. The architecture combines a fractional order proportional-integral controller and a set-point filter. First, the open-loop frequency response is shaped to obtain robustness specifications and to approximate an optimal feedback system in the input-output tracking, at least in a specified bandwidth. Secondly, the set-point filter is designed by dynamic inversion to minimize the difference between the ideal synthesized command signal, that provides a smooth monotonic response, and the filter step response. Tests on the position/speed control of DC and permanent magnet synchronous motors show the effectiveness of the methodology in comparison with PI controller tuned by symmetrical optimum and coupled with a smoothing filter.

This paper summarizes all research advancements obtained by the Politecnico di Bari through the RES NOVAE Project activities in the field of the smart grids. Such activities have been aimed at bringing substantial contributions in the development of smart grid in medium-voltage and low-voltage distribution systems. Since the scientific approach to smart grids is intrinsically multidisciplinary, specific researches were addressed in all the fields of electrical and information engineering that are involved in the creation of future distribution systems. The paper is organized in seven sections, each providing description of the research results developed in a specific field (power systems, communication systems, power electronics, electric measurements, circuits and systems, information processing systems, automatic control).

In the More-Electric Aircrafts the role of the power converters is fundamental and in the last years the amount of electric power has increased rapidly. In this paper a power conversion stage is proposed and controlled for the Ground Power Unit of a More-Electric-Aircraft. The power conversion topology is based on paralleled converters with interleaved modulation which allows to overcome constraints due to low ratio between the switching frequency and the fundamental frequency(400 Hz) and to minimize the size of the filtering elements. Simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

In the framework of European funds for Convergence regions managed by the Italian Ministry for Research Education, Politecnico di Bari has applied a project for structural development of laboratories named “Innovative Processes for Energy Conversion – PrInCE”. This paper is meant to describe the research and development activities involving the Laboratories developed within the PrInCE project.