AIT Austrian Institute of Technology | Georg Lauss

Background

Georg F. Lauss graduated in mechatronics from the Johannes Kepler University of Linz (JKU) in 2006. Even during his studies he was gaining experience as a researcher in the field of power electronics and electric drive control systems. Since 2007, he has been part of the research division of the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Vienna. He focuses on the field of electric energy systems, especially on inverters for photovoltaics. His main research interests cover power electronics, control theory, optimization, hardware in the loop simulation (HIL) and mathematical methods for control and simulation.

Challenges

Over the years, Mr. Lauss has been involved in building up and updating AIT's power electronics laboratories
according to the current needs, requirements and standards. In the process, the biggest stumbling block was the issue of capturing the complexity of
huge networks in the laboratory setting, because the traditional approaches provided a very limited possibility to replicate huge networks. The problem was augmented by the fact that AIT primarily deals with industrial clients who operate in relatively short development and research cycles, meaning that a system was needed which could provide accurate results and provide them very quickly.

Lab

Controller hardware in the loop (C-HIL) allowed Mr. Lauss and AIT to create a laboratory setup that is capable of replicating the grid complexity and all relevant phenomena in real time. This has had a very positive effects on the time that it takes to do research and development. Moreover, C-HIL allows AIT to provide additional services for the industry, especially in the domain of (pre-)certification of power electronics devices.

For more details, please visit the official site of AIT's Energy Department.