Ryo Takahashi

Associate Professor, Ph.D. in Physics
E-Mail
takahashi.ryo
Website
https://researchmap.jp/ryo_takahashi
Areas of Research
Electrical Energy Engineering, Communication Engineering, Engineering Applications of Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Profile
  • Research

  • Dr. Ryo Takahashi obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from Tokyo University of Science in 2003 and 2006, respectively. Since then, he has been able to compile an impressive record, first as an expert researcher at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Tokyo, and then as a research scientist at RIKEN, Saitama, Japan. He was also a researcher from 2010 to 2011 and an assistant professor from 2012 to 2016 at Kyoto University. Before joining KUAS, he was an Associate Professor between 2017 and 2018 at Aichi University of Technology.

    Dr. Takahashi’s current research interests include communication systems, power electronics, statistical physics, nonlinear dynamical systems and their integrations and applications, including cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart energy management systems. One of his recent research topics is power processing, including power packet dispatching systems designed as the integration technologies of the information and power networks. He challenges novel system designs emerging from interdisciplinary fields based on theoretical analysis, experimental evaluations and numerical simulations.

    He received the Best Paper Award (KIYASU-Zen’ichi Award as first prize) from the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineering (IEICE) in 2015, as well as the Energies Best Paper Award (third prize) from MDPI in 2015. He is a member of the IEEE, the IEICE, the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ), the Institute of Systems, Control and Information Engineering (ISCIE), the Physical Society of Japan (JPS) and the Japan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (JSIAM).

    In his spare time, Dr. Takahashi enjoys reading books of various genres and visiting bookstores. He also enjoys watching sports such as football and baseball, following both domestic and overseas leagues.

  • Digitalization in Power Distribution

    In recent times, various types of power sources are installed in a dispersed manner throughout power distribution systems. For example, photovoltaic cells, fuel cells and energy storages have become familiar additions to homes and buildings. Multiple batteries, whose voltages are regulated at different ratings, can be found in robots, electrical vehicles and electrical aircrafts.

    To effectively manage electricity in these systems, the concept of an “Energy Internet” or “Internet of Energy” has recently been proposed and is gaining interest. In this proposal, a flow of electrical power is bi-directional, not only flowing from power plants to consumers, but also from consumers with dispersed power sources such as PVs, who sometimes “upload” their power to the power system, thus the comparison to the structure of the internet.

    Prior to the proposal of this concept, an Open-Electric-Energy Network (OEEN) was already proposed in the 1990s, in which power flow is controlled by multiple electric-energy routers. This OEEN concept was one of the precursors to the concept of an energy internet. However, at that time, the concept was far from the reality because of the lack of the development of power devices, communication systems and storage devices. Extending this concept much further, Dr. Takahashi and his collaborators have recently proposed and developed a power packet dispatching system utilizing new, highly developed ICT technologies and wide-bandgap power devices such as SiC and GaN. In this system, the power is converted to pulse power with an information tag that is physically attached to its voltage waveform (Fig. 1). It is then delivered on power lines in units of packets. This power packet dispatching system can control power flow in a power distribution network consisting of routers for the power packets (Fig. 2). This system has the potential to realize “energy on demand,” which implies each load demands as much power as necessary from an appropriate power source in the system. In addition, the system permits expandability and flexibility; power sources and loads can be attached and removed to and from the system as units. Therefore, this power packet dispatching system has the potential to become an effective energy management system in cases where space and the capacities of installed multiple power sources are limited (i.e. closed systems such as robots, electrical vehicles and electrical aircrafts). Homes, buildings, and communities are also possible candidates for the adoption of this power packet dispatching system.

    Fig.1

    Fig.2

    At KUAS, Dr. Takahashi will continue to pursue research of the above power packet dispatching system and its application as one of his research targets. This power packet dispatching system has the potential to digitalize power distribution in the same way that communication technology was digitized. This digital power distribution will usher humanity into a new era of system design with practical systems that possess power network.