Akshay Kumar Rathore is an IEEE Fellow and expert in power electronics and control of electrical motor drives. He is currently a Professor and Program leader of Electrical Power Engineering Degree Program jointly offered with Newcastle University, UK. He received the Gold Medal for securing the highest academic standing in his Master’s degree among all electrical engineering specializations at Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi, India. He received his PhD degree in Power Electronics from University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 2008. He had two subsequent postdoctoral research appointments with the University of Wuppertal, Germany, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. From 2011-2015, he served as an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore. From 2016-2021, he served as an Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada where he was listed in the Provost Circle of Distinction in 2021. He served as Graduate Program Director and Chair of Graduate Awards during 2020-21.

Dr. Rathore is a recipient of the 2013 IEEE IAS Andrew W. Smith Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award, 2014 Isao Takahashi Power Electronics Award, 2017 IEEE IES David Irwin Early Career Award, 2019 IES Publications Service Recognition Award, 2020 IEEE Bimal Bose Award for Industrial Electronics Applications in Energy Systems, 2021 Nagamori Award, and 2023 Distinguished Alumna Award (Young Achiever Category -IIT BHU Varanasi). He published about 300 research papers in international journals and conferences, including 105 IEEE TRANSACTIONS.

Dr. Rathore is currently serving as the co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics and IEEE Fellow Evaluation Committee member of Industrial Electronics Society and member of the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award Committee.

Fundamental Device Switching Frequency Control of Multilevel Inverters for Medium Voltage Drives

Medium voltage AC drives based on voltage source inverters have been in increasing demand for various industrial applications. Multi-level inverters are a preferred choice because they allow operation at multiple of dc link voltage and reduce the THD as compared to the conventional two-level inverters. It is desired to operate medium voltage drives at switching frequencies below 1 kHz to minimize the switching losses. This keynote will explain a method for obtaining very low switching frequency operation (50 Hz to 200 Hz) of medium voltage multilevel inverters that permits a significant reduction of the device switching frequency and minimize the switching losses while not compromising on the total harmonic distortion of the machine currents. It relates to the control of switching instants of the switching devices of multi-level inverters that determines the pulse pattern of a multi-level inverter for a motor drive system. The technique has been extended for the common mode elimination in the dual-inverter fed open-end winding motor drives system.