"Advanced Power Electronic systems have a key role in the expansion of electrification in our daily lives. But their reliable, uninterrupted operation will be the big bet - a ticket to play for our transition to a carbon-free future."

George Papafotiou is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and the Head of the Power Electronics Lab. He is working on using computational intelligence to make power electronics systems more available. Computational intelligence, specifically Model Predictive Control (MPC), and its application in the microsecond time-scales encountered in power electronics systems has been the main thread throughout his career.

Before joining TU/e, Papafotiou worked in various functions at ABB for 15 years. He started as a Scientist in the Swiss Lab of ABB Corporate Research, where he was the main advocate for using computational intelligence for the more efficient and robust dynamic operation of energy management systems. He then led the Power Electronics Systems research group at the same institution, with a research portfolio comprising power electronics for renewables, ultra-high-efficiency power conversion, and dynamic optimization and control.

As Global R&D Manager for SW and Control HW at ABB Medium Voltage Drives, Papafotiou took a leading role in productizing the first comprehensive MPC-based control platform for induction motor drives. Finally, as Global Quality and Customer Experience Manager for ABB’s System Drives Division, he worked on data-driven techniques to improve product quality and reliability for industrial motor drives.

Georgios Papafotiou obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering, focusing on Automatic Control and Power Electronics Systems, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) in 2002. Afterwards, he joined ETH Zurich (Switzerland) for a postdoctoral position, where he worked on the application of Model Predictive Control (MPC) for Power Electronics Systems. Papafotiou built the majority of his career at ABB (also in Switzerland). There, he moved from Scientist and Principal Scientist to Group Leader in the Swiss Lab of ABB Corporate Research, to Global R&D Manager for SW and Control HW with Medium Voltage (MV) Drives and finally Quality and Customer Experience Manager for the System Drives Division. Since 2021, Papafotiou is the Head of the Power Electronics Lab at TU/e.

Power Electronics Lab, TU/e

EIRES - Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems 

Cyber-Physical Systems Center Eindhoven