Department of Engineering

In 1983 he started as a Research Associate at Imperial College, London University, to work on the development of integrated wind/diesel systems, for which he was based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory from 1985 to 1991. He obtained the PhD degree from Imperial College in 1990. In 1991 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at the University of Leicester with special emphasis on research in Renewable Energy.

His current research interests include renewable energy conversion, energy storage, electrical machines and power electronics. He is a Member of the IEE and the IEEE as well as the British Wind Energy Association and the UK branch of the International Solar Energy Society. His activities in power generation are mainly concerned with energy conversion from renewable energy sources, in particular through wind turbine generators and solar photo-voltaic (PV) systems. The effect of variable-speed operation of generators using power-electronic converters has been investigated in the laboratory and on an operational wind turbine. A related area of research is the storage of energy to facilitate the integration of wind power in autonomous power systems and weak networks. Variable speed drives (using both power-electronic and electro-mechanical converters) for an flywheel energy buffer have been tested and a fast-response power controller for a bi-directional drive using flux-vector control has been developed. The use of power electronics is also being investigated for optimisation of PV panels under different operational conditions and for connection of PV arrays to the mains grid without undue interference.

Solar energy shines in East Midlands - The University of Leicester to share £1.8 million of Government support

Principal Publications, Dr J. A. M. Bleijs, 2001 – 2005

Decentralised sliding-mode control for multimachine power systems using only output information
Yan, X.-G. (Contr. and Instrum. Research Group, Department of Engineering, University of Leicester); Edwards, C.; Spurgeon, S.K.; Bleijs, J.A.M. Source: IEE Proceedings: Control Theory and Applications, v 151, n 5, September, 2004, p 627-635

Continuous conduction mode operation of three-phase diode bridge rectifier with constant load voltage
Bleijs, J.A.M. (Department of Engineering, University of Leicester) Source: IEE Proceedings: Electric Power Applications, v 152, n 2, March, 2005, p 359-368

Fast maximum power point control of current-fed DC-DC converter for photovoltaic arrays
Bleijs, J.A.M. (Univ of Leicester); Gow, J.A. Source: Electronics Letters, v 37, n 1, Jan, 2001, p 5-6

Optimization of a utility interface for large-scale photovoltaic power systems
Gow, J.A. (Dept. of Eng., Leicester Univ., UK); Bleijs, J.A.M.; Jones, R. Source: 9th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications. EPE 2001, 2001, p 10 pp.