The Florida Power Electronics Center, (FPEC) at the University of Central Florida was established in 1998 to carry on research, development and commercialization activities in solar energy conversion and integration systems by using power electronics and storage as enabling technologies. The Center’s mission is to develop advanced energy conversion technologies for solar and other renewable sources through multidisciplinary engineering research and education in the field of power electronics and system integration. The research vision is to achieve significant improvements in power density, efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of electric energy processing systems by developing innovative topology and control techniques, power semiconductor devices, passive components, and packaging and system integration techniques.

The center’s research has resulted in the publication of more than 150 journal articles and 400 presentations to international and national conferences. Graduated more than 50 Ph.D. Dissertations, 50 MS Theses, and more than 35 U.S. patents. Three companies were launched by Dr. Batarseh and his team including Petra Systems and ApECOR corporations. Funding agencies include: Department of Energy, NSF, NASA, Lockheed-Martin, ApECOR, Free Scale, Army, Air Force, Emerson, Petra Solar, Intel, Electrodynamics, Qatar Foundation, and Allied Signals and other agencies. The center secured more than $15 million in research funding. FPEC was part of a $8.75 million for UCF’s research in energy conversion and integration technologies as part of a $50 million State of Florida Center of Excellence, now known as Florida Solar Energy Consortium (FESC).

Summary of Key Research Projects