# Nihal Kularatna

Nihal Kularatna is a Sri Lankan electronics engineer. He serves as professor at University of Waikato. He has over four and a half decades of contributions to both electronics research. In 2014 he was appointed the Vice Chair of the IEEE DC Energy Efficiency Committee. His research output includes over 160 refereed papers published in esteemed journals and presented at international conferences.

## Education

He holds a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree from the University of Waikato, and a Bachelor of Science in engineering (Honors) from the University of Ceylon.

## Career

During the period spanning 1985 to 2002, Kularatna joined the Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, he engaged in industrial research and spearheaded the development of continuous professional development training programs tailored for practicing engineers and also held the position of CEO within the organization.
In addition to his institutional roles, Kularatna served as a consultant for various US companies, including the Gartner Group and Technology Dynamics, NJ. In 2002, he moved to New Zealand, accepting a senior lecturer position at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Auckland. Subsequently, in 2006, he transitioned to the University of Waikato.
His research output includes over 160 refereed papers published in journals and presented at international conferences.
He was awarded with the UoW Postgraduate Research Supervision Excellence Award in 2021. He won the New Zealand Engineering Innovator of the year 2013.
Currently serving as an associate professor at the University of Waikato, School of Engineering Teaching and Research, Kularatna's research interests include electronic engineering, surge protection, power electronics, sensors and supercapacitors. He is a Contributing Editor (Book reviews) for IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine.

## Contribution of books

Nihal has shared his electronic engineering expertise by authoring many reference books for electronic engineers starting in 1996. His first work on electronic test and measuring instruments was published in 1996 by the Institution of Engineering Technology – London, which was formerly known as IEE-London. In 1998, he published a book with Elsevier titled Power Electronics Design Handbook: Low Power Components and Applications. This was followed by another work in 2000 for Elsevier titled Modern Component Families and Circuit Block Design. In 2003, a new edition of his first book was published as Digital and Analogue Instrumentation: Testing and Measurement. It was reprinted in 2008 by IET-London. His fifth work, co-authored, on telecommunications was published in 2004 by Artech House Publishers.
With CRC Press, he contributed two works in 2008 and 2012 respectively: Circuit Design and DC Power Management. From 2014 to 2021, he published three research monographs with Elsevier: on energy storage devices, transient surge protector design, and his latest monograph, Energy Storage Devices for Renewable Energy Systems: Rechargeable Batteries and Supercapacitors. These ten works collectively span over 4,000 printed pages.

## Selected publications

* Kularatna, Nihal; Sudantha, B. H. (April 2008). "An Environmental Air Pollution Monitoring System Based on the IEEE 1451 Standard for Low Cost Requirements". IEEE Sensors Journal. 8 (4): 415–422. Bibcode:2008ISenJ...8..415K. doi:10.1109/JSEN.2008.917477.
* Arawwawala, Nadee; Kularatna, Nihal; Sirimanne, Don Charles Uvindra (September 2023). "Future Directions of Commercially Available Supercapacitors". IEEE Power Electronics Magazine. 10 (3): 52–60. doi:10.1109/MPEL.2023.3303103.
* Ariyarathna, Thilanga; Kularatna, Nihal; Gunawardane, Kosala; Jayananda, Dilini; Steyn-Ross, David Alistair (2021). "Development of Supercapacitor Technology and Its Potential Impact on New Power Converter Techniques for Renewable Energy". IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics. 2 (3): 267–276. doi:10.1109/JESTIE.2021.3061962. ISSN 2687-9735.
* Arawwawala, N.; Kularatna, Nihal; Sirimanne, D.C.U. (2023). "Future Directions of Commercially Available Supercapacitors". IEEE Power Electronics Magazine. 10 (3): 52–60. doi:10.1109/MPEL.2023.3303103.
* Sirimanne, D.C.U.; Kularatna, Nihal; Arawwawala, N. (2023). "Electrical Performance of Current Commercial Supercapacitors and Their Future Applications". Electronics. 12 (2465): 2465. doi:10.3390/electronics12112465. hdl:10289/16833.
* Kularatna, Nihal (2023). "Power Conditioning and Power Protection for Electronic Systems". Energies. 16 (2671): 2671. doi:10.3390/en16062671. hdl:10289/16832.
* Thotabaddadurage, S.U.S.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, David A. (2023). "Permeance Based Design and Analysis of Supercapacitor Assisted Surge Absorber for Magnetic Component Selection". IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. 70 (4): 3593–3603. doi:10.1109/TIE.2022.3172769.
* Thotabaddadurage, S.S.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, David A. (2023). "Importance of Leakage Magnetic Field and Fringing Flux in Surge Protector Design". IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications. 59 (1): 289–299. doi:10.1109/TIA.2022.3208920.
* Fernando, J.; Kularatna, Nihal; Silva, S.; Thotabaddadurage, S.S. (2022). "Supercapacitor Assisted Surge Absorber Technique: High-Performance Transient Surge Protectors for Consumer Electronics". IEEE Power Electronics Magazine. 9 (2): 48–60. doi:10.1109/MPEL.2022.3171644.
* Thotabaddadurage, S.S.U.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, David A. (2022). "Permeance Based Design and Analysis of Supercapacitor Assisted Surge Absorber for Magnetic Component Selection". IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. 70 (4): 3593–3603. doi:10.1109/TIE.2022.3172769.
* Subasinghage, K.W.; Gunawardane, K.; Kularatna, Nihal (2022). "Supercapacitor-Assisted Low-Dropout Regulator Technique for Low Output Ripple DC-DC Conversion". IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics. 3 (4): 1028–1037. doi:10.1109/JESTIE.2022.3149708.
* Kularatna, Nihal; Subasinghage, K.; Gunawardane, K.; Jayananda, D.; Ariyarathna, T. (2021). "Supercapacitor-Assisted Techniques and Supercapacitor-Assisted Loss Management Concept: New Design Approaches to Change the Roadmap of Power Conversion Systems". Electronics (Switzerland). 10 (14): 17.
* Silva, T.S.U.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, David A. (2021). "Optimization of Supercapacitor Assisted Surge Absorber (SCASA) Technique: A New Approach to Improve Surge Endurance Using Air-Gapped Ferrite Cores". Energies. 10 (14): 21.
* Ariyarathna, Thilanga; Kularatna, Nihal; Gunawardane, Kosala; Jayananda, Dilini; Steyn-Ross, David Alistair (2021). "Development of Supercapacitor Technology and Its Potential Impact on New Power Converter Techniques for Renewable Energy". IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics. 2 (3): 267–276. doi:10.1109/JESTIE.2021.3061962. ISSN 2687-9735.
* Gunawardane, K.; Bandara, N.; Subasinghage, K.; Kularatna, Nihal (2021). "Extending the Input Voltage Range of Solar PV Inverters with Supercapacitor Energy Circulation". Electronics (Switzerland). 10 (88): 17.
* Subasinghage, K.; Gunawardane, K.; Kularatna, Nihal (2020). "Stability Analysis and Experimental Validation of the Supercapacitor-Assisted Low-Dropout (SCALDO) Regulator". IET Power Electronics. 13 (15): 3213–3225. doi:10.1049/iet-pel.2019.1601. hdl:10289/14253.
* Wijesooriya, P.N.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, David A. (2020). "Efficiency Enhancement to a Linear AC Voltage Regulator: Multi-Winding Versus Multi-Transformer Design". IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics. 1 (2): 192–199. doi:10.1109/JESTIE.2020.3003350. hdl:10289/16187.
* Kularatna, Nihal; Jayananda, D. (2020). "Supercapacitor Based Long Time Constant Circuits: A Unique Design Opportunity for New Power Electronic Circuit Topologies". IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine. 14 (2): 40–56. doi:10.1109/MIE.2019.2959199.
* Jayananda, D.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, David A. (2020). "Supercapacitor-Assisted LED (SCALED) Technique for Renewable Energy Systems: A Very Low Frequency Design Approach with Short-Term DC-UPS Capability Eliminating Battery Banks". IET Renewable Power Generation. 14 (9): 1559–1570. Bibcode:2020IRPG...14.1559J. doi:10.1049/iet-rpg.2019.1307. hdl:10289/16841.
* Subasinghage, K.; Gunawardane, K.; Kularatna, Nihal; Lie, T.K. (2019). "Extending the Supercapacitor-Assisted Low-Dropout Regulator (SCALDO) Technique to a Split-Rail DC–DC Converter Application". IEEE Access. 7: 124034–124047. Bibcode:2019IEEEA...7l4034S. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2937754.
* Gunawardane, K.; Kularatna, Nihal (2018). "Supercapacitor Assisted Low Dropout Regulator Technique: A New Design Approach to Achieve High-Efficiency Linear DC-DC Converters". IET Power Electronics. 11 (2): 229–238. doi:10.1049/iet-pel.2017.0093.
* James, S.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, A.; Kunnemeyer, R. (2015). "Estimation of Transient Surge Energy Transferred with Associated Time Delays for Individual Components of Surge Protector Circuits". IET Power Electronics. 8 (5): 685–692. doi:10.1049/iet-pel.2014.0212.
* Kankanamge, K.; Kularatna, Nihal (2014). "Improving the End-to-End Efficiency of DC-DC Converters Based on a Supercapacitor Assisted Low Dropout Regulators (SCALDO) Technique". IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. 61 (1): 223–230. doi:10.1109/TIE.2013.2245613.
* Kularatna, Nihal (2014). "Dynamics and Modelling of Rechargeable Batteries: What Electrochemists Work Tells the Electronic Engineers". IEEE Power Electronics Magazine. 1 (4): 23–33. doi:10.1109/MPEL.2014.2361264.
* Kankanamge, K.; Kularatna, Nihal; Steyn-Ross, David A. (2012). "Laplace Transform-Based Theoretical Foundations and Experimental Validations: Low-Frequency Supercapacitor Circulation for Efficiency Improvements in Linear Regulators". IET Power Electronics. 5 (9): 1785–1792. doi:10.1049/iet-pel.2011.0296. hdl:10292/8378.
* Kularatna, Nihal; Fernando, J.; Pandey, A.; James, S. (2011). "Surge Capability Testing of Supercapacitor Families Using a Lightning Surge Simulator". IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. 58 (10): 4942–4949. doi:10.1109/TIE.2011.2109338.
* Kularatna, Nihal (2003). "Understanding A to D Architectures". Electronics Systems and Software (Sept/Oct): 20–23. doi:10.1049/ess:20030404 (inactive 7 December 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2024 (link)
* Kularatna, A.D.V.N. (1988). "Low Cost Fast AC Regulator Provides High Waveform Fidelity". Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion [PCIM] (USA) (May): 76–78.
* Kularatna, A.D.V.N. (1981). "Optosensor Limits Shunt Supply's No Load Current". Electronics [McGraw Hill] (USA) (13 January): 174.
* Kularatna, A.D.V.N. (1980). "Foldback Limiter Protects High Current Regulators". Electronics [McGraw Hill] (USA) (January): 98.
* Kularatna, A.D.V.N. (1978). "A Variable Shunt Regulated Power Supply". Electronic Engineering (UK) (June): 21.