Special Session on Matrix Converters

The world must solve important challenges to control and transform energy in efficient ways. Examples of this are in transportation, renewable energies and industrial processing applications.These problems can be solved using power converters based on modern power semiconductor devices.

The ideal AC to AC converter in many of these applications may have the following characteristics:
i. Sinusoidal input and output currents
ii.Operation with unity input power factor
iii.Regeneration capabilityfor many applications
iv.Potential for compact design with a good power to weight ratio

All these characteristics can be fulfilled by Matrix Converters and this is the reason for the tremendous ongoing interest in this topology. In the last decade, many advances in the development of this topology have been presented, including industrial applications up to megawatt level. The use of Matrix Converters in real applications and the challenges that these applications present is a very timely and important topic.