Walid Issa 19 The Beacon, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK, TR11 2BQ (+44-7513703925)

Email: w.issa@exeter.ac.uk https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=RA2C_iQAAAAJ

During PhD and Postdoc, I have successfully combined my studies, project work, teaching and other commitments showing myself to be self-motivated, organised and capable of working under pressure. Several journal and conference publications well present my high standard research & development skills. Implementing a large scale microgrid prototype reflects my practical experience. With a strong ambition to enrich and disseminate my experience through continuous professional research and academic teaching, I wish to work in a leading research institution offering value-added contributions to the academic area.

QUALIFICATIONS

10/2011 - 06/2015 University of Exeter, United Kingdom

PhD in Renewable Energy– Major: Power Electronics Applications & Control

Thesis: “Improved Control Strategies for Droop-Controlled Inverter-Based Microgrid”

09/2008 - 06/2011 Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine MSc. in Electrical Engineering/Control Systems (GPA: 92%, Distinction)

09/2003 - 09/2007 Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine BS in Electrical Engineering (GPA: 91.7%, First-class honours)

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Associate Research Fellow - Research & Lab Teaching (09/2014 – Present) University of Exeter, UK

Responsible for all matters in the Reliable and Efficient System for Community Energy Solutions:

RESCUES - EPSRC funded UK-India project. Designing and implementing a large scale Microgrid Lab prototype in Penryn Campus. Conducting experiments and proposing solutions for the literature microgrid challenges. Using Real time controllers and simulators (OPAL-RT and dSPACE 1103) to realize the solutions. Designing a controller for large scale automatic sun tracker for 5 kW solar system in Penryn

campus- UK. Lab demonstration, tutorials and teaching support for different engineering modules. Providing support for the student competing in the Formula Student competition.

Delivering research work, RESCUES project reports and presenting work cross countries.

Collaborating with project partners, attending project meetings and managing supportive visits.

Research Assistant (09/2011 – 09/2014) University of Exeter, UK

Modelling and simulating of AC Microgrids. Addressing the unintentional islanding scenarios and proposing a reliable controller.

Designing and implementing a small-scale Microgrid Lab prototype. Demonstrating lab’s tutorials in electronics and machines. Using Real time controllers and simulators (OPAL-RT and dSPACE 1103).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Head of Electrical Engineering Department (09/2010 – 09/2011) Gaza European Hospital, Palestine

Implementation and maintenance of electrical systems in the hospital including the generation units, distribution units and the emergency units.

Administrating the staff work and distributing tasks.

Conducting meeting and proposing solutions for the challenges in the hospital.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE Trainer (09/2008 – 09/2010) Research and Projects Lab at IUG, Palestine

Conducting many courses in PIC microcontrollers, FPGA, PCB, PLC, Matlab and Labview.

Writing proposals for developing the research labs. Participating in student technical support and administrative matters.

Lecturer (09/2008 – 09/2010) University College of Applied Science – UCAS, Palestine

Teaching many courses in basic electronics, PLC programming and PCB manufacturing, CNC and PIC microcontroller programming.

Conducting lab experiments and supervising graduating projects.

Evaluating student assignments, exams and providing feedback.

Participating in student support and administrative matters.

Teaching Assistant (09/2007 – 09/2009) Islamic University of Gaza – IUG, Palestine

Supervising laboratory experiments for signals and systems, control systems, digital logic design, basic electronics and microcontrollers courses.

Guiding students on understanding and completing their assignments.

Preparation of tutorials, learning materials and student assignments.

Supervising graduating projects for fourth and fifth year students.

Studied Books

Control Systems Engineering, Norman Nise, 6th edition

Modern Control Engineering, K. Ogata, 5th edition Microcontroller Based Applied Digital Control, Dogan Ibrahim Digital Control of Dynamic Systems, Franklin, Powel, and Workman, 3rd edition Power Electronics: Converters, Applications and Design, Ned Mohan Power Electronics: circuits, devices and applications by Muhammad H. Rashid, 3rd Edition Electronic circuits fundamentals and applications, Mike Tooley

The Scientist and Engineer’s Guide to Digital Signal Processing, By Steven W. Smith Electric Energy Systems: Analysis and Operation, G. Expósito, A. J. Conejo and C. A. Cañizares

Power System Stability and Control, P. Kundur Embedded Generation, N. Jenkins, R. Allan, P. Crossley, D. Kirschen and G. Strbac Electrical Power System Quality, R. Dugan, M. McGranaghan, S. Santoso and H. Beaty

TECHNICAL SKILLS Strong skills in modelling and programming languages: Assembly, Visual Basic, C++, Labview,

Matlab and PVSyst. Experienced in hardware design and software developing. Web pages design by: HTML, PHP and wordpress. Well experience with operating systems (Windows) and software (MS-Office, Visio, Latex) Well-experience in Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Microcontrollers (PIC, Arduino), Data

Acquisition Cards (DAQ) and FPGA. Good in PCB design via Proteus. Good experience in simulation programs: Matlab, Labview, PLECS, Multisim and Proteus.

Well-experience in using Real-time controllers and simulators like: dSPACE 1103 and RTLab simulators.

AWARDS AND HONORS Awarded the RESCUES logo competition prize for the best design (2014).

Awarded a PhD scholarship from University of Exeter, UK in Renewable Energy (2011).

First Class Honor in MS and BS during my study at IUG (2007).

Awarded Hani Al-Qadomi Scholarship in the last year of my BS study (2006).

TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT AND MEMBERSHIPS Attended training for Learning and Teaching in higher education, Stage 1, University of Exeter (Sept,

2012).

60 hours –FPGA programming via VHDL, Islamic University of Gaza (Aug,2008)

60 hours –Advanced PIC microcontroller Programming, Islamic University of Gaza (July,2008)

60 hours –PIC microcontroller systems design, Islamic University of Gaza (July,2007)

50 hours –Printed circuit boards design, PCB, Islamic University of Gaza (Aug,2006)

50 hours –Programmable Logic Controllers Programming, Islamic University of Gaza (Aug,2005)

Joined research & development training workshops at The University of Exeter, UK.

Presented research work at various project meetings, conferences and universities visits.

PROJECTS

Designing a controller for large scale automatic sun tracker for 5 kW solar system in Penryn

campus- UK.

Design and implementation of a Lab-scale microgrid prototype using the real time controller

dSPACE 1103.

Design and implementation of buck-boost converter for PV and battery based on STM32F4

Discovery board.

Packaging Machine controller by PLC: manufacture at UCAS.

Sign Board project controller by PIC18F4550: manufactured at UCAS.

Arm-to-Arm Human Control Interfacing "Graduation Project": using Labview and DAQ6024E.

Designing a feedback system for speed motor control using 6024E DAQ and Labview.

Implementing a security system based on a keypad interfacing with computer software adopting

visual basic.

Designing an automation system for a factory based on PLC.

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS 1) W Issa, T Mallick, and M Abusara “A Review of recent control techniques of drooped inverter-based

AC microgrid “, Submitted 2016

2) W Issa, T Mallick, and M Abusara “Design and Control of Droop-Controlled Inverters during Unintentional Islanding Scenarios in Microgrids“, Submitted 2016

3) W Issa, T Mallick, and M Abusara “DC Link Voltage Stability in Islanded Multi-Inverter Microgrids” in

pipeline

4) W Issa, T Mallick, and M Abusara “Robust Design of Droop Controllers in Resistive Autonomous AC Microgrids” in pipeline

5) W Issa, T Mallick, and M Abusara “Output Impedance Design using Inverter’s Filter Currents Feedback” in pipeline

6) R Albadwawi, W Issa, T Mallick and M abusara “DC Microgrid Power Coordination Based on Fuzzy

Logic Control” in the 18th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, EPE, 2016.

7) R Albadwawi, W Issa, T Mallick and M abusara “Power Management of Microgrids using Fuzzy Logic” The IET international conference on Power Electronics, Machines and Drives PEMD, 2016.

8) W Issa, M Abusara, S Sharkh, and T Mallick “A small signal model of an inverter-based microgrid including DC link voltages,” 17th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, EPE 2015, Geneva, Switzerland, 8-10 Sep 2015.

9) W Issa, S Sharkh, T Mallick and M Abusara “Improved Reactive Power Sharing for Parallel-Operated

Inverters in Islanded Microgrid”, Accepted in Journal of Power Electronics, 2015.

10) W Issa, M Abusara, and S Sharkh "Control of Transient Power During Unintentional Islanding of Microgrids," IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol.30, no.8, pp.4573,4584, Aug. 2015.

11) W Issa, M Abusara and S Sharkh “Impedance interaction between islanded parallel voltage source inverters and the distribution network” The IET international conference on Power Electronics, Machines and Drives PEMD, pp.1,6, 8-10 April 2014.

12) B Hamed, and W Issa "A Modified Internal Model Control for Unstable–Time Delayed System." International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, 56-62, 2011.

BOOKS

B. Hamed and W. Issa, “A New Approach for Robust Internal Model Control of Nonlinear

Systems: Control Systems Application,” LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing (21 Nov. 2011).

RESEARCH STATEMENT

• Power electronics-based inverters in Smart grids/ Microgrids have recently conquered large interest in

the research since it is considered as the future trend of the renewable energy sources integration and distributed power generation. The power sharing between these inverters could be communication-

based or wireless coordinator. The major interest now is in the droop control technique that eases the operation of microgrids and supports seamless transfer from grid-connected mode of the microgrid to island mode and vise-versa without using communications between the inverters which reduces the total cost of microgrids infrastructure. However, the droop control is limited in terms of regulation and accurate control of power but this gives a room for the research to improve its performance.

The droop control is used in the literature to manage the power in DC microgrids and AC microgrids. Few has addressed the DC Link voltage stability in droop control-based microgrids. All the modelling

and the proposed controllers assume steady DC link voltages. However, during load changes and transition from grid-connected mode to island mode, the DC link voltages might oscillate or rise to hazard levels causing trips. This decreases the reliability of the system. I have addressed one of these problems in my IEEE paper (IEEE Transaction on Power Electronics) and the study could be generalized. The methodology of the research plan is to develop a model of the interested case study of a microgrid. This model is used as a design tool and analysis of the transient responses of each

state in the system including the DC link voltages states. The small signal modelling is the most common technique to achieve that. A controller can be designed and a criterion should be defined for reliable operation of microgrids during both modes and transition as well. This will be supported by practical setup results to validate the design in many scenarios.