Dr Andrew Cross, Aston University / UK Grid Solutions

Industrial Fellowships 2024

Dr Andrew Cross has been a research and development engineer at GEC Industrial Controls, Ultra Electronics, and Alstom Power Conversion, and has also held academic research posts at the universities of Manchester, Birmingham and Loughborough. He is a Reader in power electronics with Aston University and his general research interests include high-frequency power converters, power quality, modelling, simulation, and control of power electronic systems.  

His current research looks at the application of resonant, switched-capacitor DC-DC converters for a range of applications, but specifically high-voltage DC transmission (HVDC). There are many switched capacitor circuits combinations, each having their own merits and disadvantages. Finding an optimum among the many millions of possible converters is therefore a challenge. Dr Cross has developed a computer modelling technique that can rapidly appraise and sort these circuits using high-performance computing techniques. He is applying this method in collaboration with industry, in the search for new, more optimised HVDC converter circuits.  

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