"Power electronics is the application of electronics to the control and conversion of electric power."
The study of electronic circuits that control the flow of electrical energy in high-power systems. Includes power converters, inverters, and motor drives.
Semiconductor basics: A fundamental knowledge of semiconductor materials and their properties is essential to understand the working of power electronic devices.
AC-DC converters: Understanding different types of rectifiers like half-wave and full-wave rectifiers, and their applications in power electronics.
DC-DC converters: Concepts of step-up and step-down converters, Buck, Boost, Buck-Boost, and Cuk converters, Flyback converters, etc.
AC-AC converters: Understanding the working principle, and limitations of cycloconverters and inverters.
Switching power supplies: Concept of switch-mode power supplies, switched-capacitor converters, and resonant converters.
Control methods: Important control techniques for power electronics like PWM control, constant frequency control, and constant on-time control.
Power devices: Understanding the different types of power devices like MOSFETs, IGBTs, Thyristors (SCR, TRIAC, GTO, etc.), their construction, and working principles.
Heat sinks and cooling: Heat dissipation mechanisms like natural cooling, forced air cooling, and liquid cooling, the selection of heat sinks, calculating thermal resistance, and heat sinking.
Magnetic components: Inductors, transformers, flyback transformers, etc., and their roles in power electronics.
Electric machines and Drives: High-power electric machine control with power electronic converters.
Power quality: Understanding the role of power factor correction, harmonic filtering, and voltage regulation in power electronics.
Battery charging: The concept of battery charging, charging methods, battery discharging protection, and monitoring.
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC): Electromagnetic interference (EMI), EMI filters, and ways to reduce EMI.
Simulation and modeling tools: SPICE, SIMULINK, PSIM, LTspice, etc. and their application in power electronics design and analysis.
Control theory: Feedback control, adaptive control, and other control techniques used in power electronics.
Digital Control: Microcontrollers, digital signal processing, and their role in power electronics.
Renewable Energy Systems: Different energy conversion systems to use from wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal energy and their integration into the power grid.
Power System Protection: Different protection schemes implemented in Power systems against overcurrent, overvoltage, and grounding faults.
Semiconductor Devices Packaging: Techniques, type of package, and material used in semiconductor devices packaging.
Reliability and Safety Related Design: Design aspects that involve protections against the failure of a circuit or component to ensure Saftey environments.
Emerging Technologies: The trends, research, and innovation in power electronic devices, circuits or systems, such as Gallium Nitride (GaN), Silicon Carbide (SiC), Photovoltaic (PV), and others.
Industrial Applications: Applications in manufacturing, energy, motor control, electric vehicles, railway, aerospace, and other industries.
AC to DC Converters: These devices are designed to convert AC power into DC power, this is achieved through the use of rectifiers (diodes or thyristors).
DC to DC Converters: Converters that change the DC voltage level to meet the requirements for certain applications are called DC to DC converters.
DC to AC Converters: These devices invert DC power into AC power by using MOSFETs, IGBTs, and/or thyristors.
Buck Converters: Buck converters reduce the voltage from a higher level to a lower level.
Boost Converters: Boost converters increase the voltage from a lower level to a higher level.
Buck-Boost Converters: These devices can either increase or decrease voltage levels.
Flyback Converters: These converters are commonly used in low-power applications and use a transformer to store energy in a magnetic field.
Sepic Converters: They wrok with intermediate step because they have one output voltage that is independent of input voltage.
Full-Bridge Converters: Full-Bridge Converters use four switches to achieve isolation, which makes them wideky used in high current, high voltage applications such as motor drives.
Half-Bridge Converters: A simpler version of Full-Bridge converters, Half-Bridge Converters use just two switches.
Three-Phase AC to AC Converters: These devices are used to convert three-phase AC power from one frequency and voltage to another.
Resonant Converters: They are used in high-frequency applications where it is essential to reduce the amount of electromagnetic interference.
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) Converters: Commonly used for voltage regulation in DC to DC converters, these electronic circuits control the power delivered to the load.
Multilevel Converters: Multilevel converters provide a smoother output waveform than a conventional converter by adding more levels to the waveform.
Matrix Converters: A Matrix Converter is a device optimized for high efficiency and low weight in power conversion applications. It is versatile, fast-acting, delivers superior power outputs, and improve performance in applications like wind, solar, and motor drives.
Zeta Converters: They are a variation of SEPIC converters, which has an added inductor on the input that successively boosts or drops the voltage level.
Circuit Breakers and Switches: These are important components of power electronic devices that are needed to protect the circuit from overcurrent or a short circuit.
Voltage Regulators: They are used to regulate the output voltage of a power supply, which ensures that the output voltage stays within the specified range regardless of the load on the power supply.
Electronic Transformers: These are used to convert high voltage, high-frequency signals to low voltage signals, and vice versa.
Gate Drivers: These are used to drive MOSFETs, IGBTs, and/or thyristors to make power electronics devices work. Gate drivers produce the required gate voltage and gate current levels for the switches used in power conversion systems.
Active Filters: These electronic circuits are used for removing undesired noise, harmonics, or torque ripple from the system.
Battery Management Systems (BMS): As the name implies, BMS is a system that manages the lifecycle of a battery to optimize its usage, enhance its longevity, and ensure its safe operation.
Smart Grid Power Converters: They are used to efficiently integrate renewable energy sources into the power grid.
Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS): SMPS is an electronic power supply that transforms the voltage and current delivered to the load from AC to DC or vice versa in an efficient way.
Electric Vehicle Power Electronics: Power electronics play a key role in the operation of electric vehicles by controlling the motor, battery charging, and regenerative braking.
Others: Other power electronics types include choppers, inverters, cycloconverters, resonant inverters, and many more.
"The first high-power electronic devices were made using mercury-arc valves."
"In modern systems, the conversion is performed with semiconductor switching devices such as diodes, thyristors, and power transistors such as the power MOSFET and IGBT."
"Substantial amounts of electrical energy are processed in power electronics, in contrast to electronic systems concerned with the transmission and processing of signals and data."
"An AC/DC converter (rectifier) is the most typical power electronics device found in many consumer electronic devices."
"E.g. television sets, personal computers, battery chargers, etc."
"The power range is typically from tens of watts to several hundred watts."
"A common application is the variable speed drive (VSD) that is used to control an induction motor."
"The power range of VSDs starts from a few hundred watts and ends at tens of megawatts."
"The power conversion systems can be classified according to the type of the input and output power."
"AC to DC (rectifier)"
"DC to AC (inverter)"
"DC to DC (DC-to-DC converter)"
"AC to AC (AC-to-AC converter)"
"Power electronics is concerned with the control and conversion of electric power."
"The conversion is performed with semiconductor switching devices."
"made using mercury-arc valves."
"typically from tens of watts to several hundred watts."
"An AC/DC converter (rectifier)"
"starts from a few hundred watts and ends at tens of megawatts."