María Inés Valla



Professor María Inés Valla

Research and Teaching Interests

The major current research interests lie in areas of power converters, renewable energies and power quality.

Education

• Doctor in Engineering, (Ph.D.) from National University of La Plata (UNLP), Argentina in 1994. Thesis: Switched Reluctance Motor Control, (In spanish). Advisors: C. F. Christiansen and J. M. Catalfo.

• Electronics Engineer, from National University of La Plata, Argentina in 1980.

Award: to the best graduation in Electronics Engineering

Awards and Recognitions

• 2011 Award for the Scientific, Technological or Artistic Achievements given by the National University of La Plata.

• 2011 Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Industrial Electronics society.

• 2010 IEEE Fellow.

• 2007 Member of the Buenos Aires Academy of Engineering.

• 2003 IEEE Educational Activities Board Section Professional Development Award, given by the IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB) to recognize the Argentina Section "for remarkable contributions in continuous education activities, with sustained growth in number, variety and geographical coverage, for the benefit of the technical community". Vice-Chair of the section in 2001-2002.

• 2002 PES Chapter Outstanding Engineer Award. Given by the IEEE Power Engineering Society for "Outstanding contributions in the development of graduate studies in Electrical Engineering and her leadership in IEEE activities". December 2002.

• 2001 TECHINT Award for teaching projects.

• 2000 IEEE Third Millennium Medal This award honors IEEE members for their outstanding contributions in their respective areas of activity. Nominated by IEEE Argentina Section.

• 1999 Outstanding Chapter Award of the IEEE Control System Society. As the chair person of the Argentina Chapter, for the excellent lecture program and membership development.

• 1999 Myron Zucker IEEE Industry Applications Student Design Award, Second prize, as the Academic sponsor of the paper “Space Vector Modulator for Power Inverters”, authored by Mauricio Tonelli. The IEEE Industry Applications Society offers this award to undergraduate students and their academic sponsors for design projects within the scope of the Society. October 1999.

• 1980 Premio Juan Sábato, This award is given every year by the School of Engineering of the National University of La Plata to the best graduation in Electronics Engineering.

Full time positions

• Since 1998: Head of the “Power Electronics Group” at the Industrial Electronics, Control and Instrumentation Laboratory (LEICI), Electrical Engineering Department, UNLP.

• Since 1992: Full Time Professor of the National University of La Plata (UNLP), Argentina.

• Since 1985: Member of the National Research Council (CONICET), Argentina.

Since 2015 Superior Researcher; 2008-2015 Principal Researcher; 2000-2007 Independent Researcher, 1991-1999: Associate Researcher, 1985-1991: Assistant Researcher.

SCIENTIFIC and/or Technical Editorial activities

• Co-Editor in Chief of the IEEE Transaction on Industrial Electronics since 2013.

• Associate Editor of the IEEE Transaction on Industrial Electronics since 2007.

• Associate Editor of the Revista Iberoamericana de Automación e Informática Industrial (RIAI-Elsevier) 2007-2013

Contact information:

National University of La Plata, Argentina

e-mail: m.i.valla@

Lecture topics

1. Finite State Predictive Control applied to Multilevel Converters.

The Finite State Predictive Control is a particular case of the well known Model based Predictive Control (MPC) which is very well suited to be applied in the control of Multilevel converters. It is very simple to integrate the control of external variables such as currents, voltages or power, together with the internal variables of the converter such as voltages over the DC bus capacitors.

2. Multilevel Converters Interfacing Renewable Energies to the Power Grid

Multilevel converters are a good choice to avoid the use of transformers in the interface of wind or photovoltaic generators to the power grid. During the talk different topologies will be presented together with some ideas of the challenges they impose to their control. The case of wind power generation together with back to back connection of power converters is reviewed. Also the application of multilevel topologies to photovoltaic generation is considered. In this case the back to back connection of converters is not required since PV modules generate DC voltage and the multilevel structures allows the generation of AC voltages higher than the PV module voltages. DCMC is also used in this application, but the H-bridge cascaded topologies appear to be very well suited for photovoltaic applications.

3. Non linear Control of Power Converters

Power Inverters show a spread usage in different applications of power electronics and electric grids. A high performance of these converters is required to improve Power Quality in electric systems. The aim of this lecture was to show the application of feedback linearization to control of three phase power converters and to observe some important variables in the system. The model of the three phase converter was presented and the principles of feedback linearization are reviewed for this particular application.  The developments of the controller as well as different observers were presented. Some results of the application of these controller and observer in the control of a front end converter concluded the presentation

4. Application of Multilevel Current Source Inverters in Renewable Energies Interface with the Electric Grid.

Renewable energy sources are today one of the focal points of research in distributed power generation. The search for new interfaces and methods of energy generation and storage is attracting a significant amount of resources worldwide. The use of a Single Stage Multilevel Current Source Inverter (MCSI) allows replacing the traditional Boost DC/DC converter plus Voltage Source Inverter used so far. The MCSI can both interconnect to the grid and perform the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm. This novel single stage converter approach provides active power to the grid, power factor compensation and reduction of the line current harmonics content. The main topics of the implementation of a grid interface for solar, hydrogen and wind generation with a MCSI were presented.

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