Dr. Ali Bazzi’s Power Electronics & Drives Advanced Research Laboratory (PEARL) is part of the Center for Clean Energy Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Connecticut.
The main research focus is on power electronics applications in electric motor drives, renewable energy systems, micro-grids, and the smart grid. Electric drives investigated cover a wide range of applications including plug-in, hybrid, and electric vehicles, and electric propulsion. Renewable energy integration is mainly focused on solar photovoltaics but covers several other areas. Efficiency, control, optimization, reliability, and real-time operation of most power electronic systems are of main interest. The lab has a very dynamic environment with several active research projects. New equipment is already up and running for various experiments.