Dr Rafael Pena Alzola

Senior Lecturer

Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Personal statement

Rafael Peña-Alzola received the combined licentiate and M.Sc. degree in industrial engineering from the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain, in 2001, and the Ph.D. degree from the National University for Distance Learning (UNED), Madrid, Spain, in 2011. He has worked as an electrical engineer for several companies in Spain. From September 2012 to July 2013, he was Guest Postdoc at the Department of Energy Technology at Aalborg University in Aalborg, Denmark. From August 2014 to December 2016, he was Postdoc Research Fellow at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. From January 2017 to May 2017, he was with the University of Alcalá in Madrid, Spain for a short-term industrial collaboration. Since June 2017, he is with the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK initially as Research Fellow and since 2019, as a Lecturer within the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre for Electrical Power Systems, Institute for Energy and Environment. His research interests are energy storage, LCL-filters, solid-state transformers, power electronics for hybrid electric aircraft and innovative control techniques for power converters. He is an IEEE Senior Member and Associate Editor of the IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics.

Publications

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Publications

Review of cryogenic power electronics for all-electric aircraft: Elwakeel Abdelrahman, Liao Yuchuan, Xiao Yudi, Peña Alzola Rafael, Zhang Min, Yuan Weijia; IEEE Access Vol 13, pp. 30646-30664 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3539572
Characterization of 650 V GaN transistors at cryogenic temperature in all-electric aircraft applications: Liao Yuchuan, Xiao Yudi, Elwakeel Abdelrahman, Alzola Rafael Pena, Zhang Min, Yuan Weijia; IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, pp. 1-7 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1109/tasc.2025.3531694
A cryogenic isolated gate drive circuit for medium-voltage medium-current IGBT modules: Xiao Yudi, Liao Yuchuan, Ye Hanlin, Alzola Rafael Pena, Yuan Weijia, Zhang Min; 2024 CPSS & IEEE International Symposium on Energy Storage and Conversion (ISESC) 2024 CPSS & IEEE International Symposium on Energy Storage and Conversion (ISESC), pp. 280-286 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1109/isesc63657.2024.10785411
Low harmonics offshore hybrid HVDC system based on Vienna Rectifier and voltage source converter with back-up capability: Tian Shangen, Campos-Gaona David, Mortazavizadeh Seyed, Peña-Alzola Rafael, Anaya-Lara Olimpo; IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion Vol 39, pp. 2169-2183 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1109/TEC.2024.3402945
Control structures for combined H₂/electricity from offshore wind turbines: Monroy-Morales José Luis, Peña-Alzola Rafael, Campos-Gaona David, Anaya-Lara Olimpo; Energies Vol 17 (2024); https://doi.org/10.3390/en17215353
Design automation using exclusion-based hierarchical computation for power electronics converters in harsh environments: Xiao Yudi, Zhang Zhe, Zsurzsan Gabriel, Andersen Michael AE, MacFadyen Martin, Liao Yuchuan, Pena Alzola Rafael, Yuan Weijia, Zhang Min; IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics Vol 5, pp. 1172-1181 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1109/OJPEL.2024.3439593

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Research

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Professional Activities

Current-type Power Hardware-in-the-Loop Interface for Black Start Testing of Grid Forming Converter: Contributor; 19/10/2022

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Projects

Coordinated Control and Operation of DERs in Converter Dominated Power Systems: Burt, Graeme (Principal Investigator) Feng, Zhiwang (Co-investigator) Pena Alzola, Rafael (Co-investigator) Seferi, Yljon (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2027
Modular DCDC Converters for Aerospace Applications: Norman, Patrick (Principal Investigator) Pena Alzola, Rafael (Co-investigator) MacFadyen, Martin (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2024 - 30-Jan-2025
PFC Simulation Review: Pena Alzola, Rafael (Principal Investigator) Norman, Patrick (Co-investigator); Follow on work from 231087; 18-Jan-2024 - 04-Jan-2024
GKNAS Modelling and Requirements Capture: Norman, Patrick (Principal Investigator) Jones, Catherine (Co-investigator) Pena Alzola, Rafael (Co-investigator) Bradley, Luke (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2024 - 30-Jan-2025
Converter Design Review: Pena Alzola, Rafael (Principal Investigator) Norman, Patrick (Co-investigator); 16-Jan-2023 - 15-Jan-2023
Zero Emissions for Sustainable Transport 1 "ZEST1": Zhang, Min (Principal Investigator) Pena Alzola, Rafael (Co-investigator) Yuan, Weijia (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2026