ECTE324/8324: Power Engineering 1

Week 9:
Lecture 9: Introduction to Power Electronics

Dr Rabiul Islam, Room 35.G34

Email: mrislam@uow.edu.au

References: Electric Energy – An Introduction, 3rd Edition, M. A. El-Sharkawi

Power Converters for Medium Voltage Networks, Rabiul Islam
Overview of Power Electronics

• Power conversion: modify electric power at high efficiency, i.e. change

frequency, voltage, waveform, no of phases etc.
• That allow users to change the voltage and frequency applied to the
equipment to achieve better performance and higher efficiencies. The electric
power grid must operate at fairly constant voltage and fixed frequency to
ensure that all generators are synchronized and that the entire system is stable.
• The new washing machine, for example, allows the user to change the speed
and torque of the washing cycles by adjusting the voltage and frequency of
its electric motor, thus optimizing the washing process.
• The newer apparatuses and equipment have electronic converters that allow
users to change the voltage and frequency applied to the equipment to achieve
better performance and higher efficiencies.
• Power electronics: study of electronic switching circuits for power
conversion.
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Overview of Power Electronics
• Power electronics combines power, electronics, and control.
• Control deals with the steady-state and dynamic characteristics of closed-
loop systems. Power deals with the static and rotating power equipment for
the generation, transmission, and distribution of electric energy. Electronics
deal with the solid-state devices and circuits for signal processing to meet the
desired control objectives.
• Power electronics may be defined as the application of solid-state electronics
for the control and conversion of electric power.
• One could also define power electronics as the art of converting electrical
energy from one form to another in an efficient, clean, compact, and robust
manner for the energy utilization to meet the desired needs.

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Overview of Power Electronics: Applications

4
Overview of Power Electronics: Applications
Power
electronic
devices will
thus become
the key
component in
future power
grids.
In the future,
advanced
power
electronics
will replace
traditional
components.

Smart Electricity Distribution Networks by C. Wang et. al.

5
Overview: Classifications of Energy Conversion
• The main task of power electronics is to control and convert electrical power from
one form to another. The four main forms of conversion are:
– DC-to-DC conversion,
– DC-to-AC conversion
– AC-to-DC conversion, and
– AC-to-AC conversion.

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Power Electronic Switches: Solid-State Diodes
7

The diode, which is the simplest power electronic device, allows the current to flow only in
one direction. It is built of two types of semiconductor material, p-type and n-type, placed
in contact with each other. The symbol for the diode is shown in the middle of the figure.
The p-junction is the anode of the device and the n-junction is the cathode. It can conduct
in forward direction and blocks in reverse direction and available ratings 5 kV, 5 kA, useful
to hundreds of kHz at lower ratings.
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Silicon-Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
8

The SCR is built of four layers of semiconductor material. The device has three terminals:
anode (A), cathode (K), and gate (G). When the anode-to-cathode voltage is negative, the
SCR is reverse biased and a small leakage of current flows from the cathode to the anode;
the device in this case is open. If the reverse-biased voltage reaches the reverse breakdown
limit of the device, the SCR is destroyed. When the anode-to-cathode voltage is positive,
the SCR is forward biased. It can conduct in forward direction if triggered at the gate
terminal and blocks in reverse direction and available ratings 5 kV, 3 kA, useful to 500 Hz.
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Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
9

The BJT consists of three layers of semiconductor material in n-p-n or p-n-p arrangements;
the n-p-n shown is more common in power electronic applications. The middle layer of the
transistor is thin compared to the other two layers. The three layers of the transistor are
called collector (C), base (B), and emitter (E). If we apply a positive voltage between the
collector and emitter, the top anti-parallel diode is reverse biased. If we apply a small
positive voltage between the base and emitter, the base–emitter junction is forward biased,
and a current flows between the base and emitter as if the junction is a forward-biased
diode. In this case, electrons move from the emitter to the base. Once the electrons reach
the base layer, they are quickly attracted to the collector layer because its voltage is
positive. Hence, a current flows through the collector terminal. This collector current is a
function of the voltage we apply between the base and the emitter.
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Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor
10

The metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is a voltage-controlled

device. The MOSFET is structured as a three-layer semiconductor material where the
middle layer is subjected to an external electric field that controls the flow of current
between the top and the bottom layers. The strength of the electric field depends on the
applied voltage (not current). The three terminals of the MOSFET are the drain (D), the
source (S), and the gate (G). The control signal is applied between the gate and the source,
and the load current is the drain current. It has high input impedance. MOSFET is more
temperature stable and usually smaller than BJT; available ratings 1200 V, 10 A, 50 kHz.
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BJT/MOSFET/SCR
11

 Because of its low on-resistance and the lack of current in the gate loop, the losses of the
MOSFET are lower than that of the BJT.
 MOSFET can be connected in parallel for heavier loads. This is not possible with the
BJT.
 The main disadvantage of the MOSFET is its high gate-source capacitance. This is due
to the difference in charges between the gate and the source, and the high input
resistance of the gate. Therefore, the switching frequency of the MOSFET is limited by
this input capacitance. High switching frequency may result in excessive capacitive
current in the gate circuit.
 SCRs are much cheaper than BJT and MOSFETs.
 SCR is triggered by a single pulse, instead of the continuous current needed by the BJT.
Thus, the input losses are much less than that for the BJT.
 In ac circuits, the SCR can be self-commutated (opened) without the need for external
commutation circuit. This is because the ac current naturally goes through zero values
twice in one cycle.
 SCR can be built with much larger current and voltage ratings than the BJT or
MOSFET.
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Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
12

BJTs are very reliable devices that can operate at high switching frequencies but requires
triggering circuits that are bulky, expensive, and low in efficiency. The MOSFETs, on the
other hand, are voltage-controlled devices and their triggering circuits are much simpler
and less expensive. For these reasons, power electronic engineers have merged these two
devices into a high-current voltage-triggered device. This device is called insulated gate
bipolar transistor (IGBT) and available with ratings of 6.5 kV, 750 A, 20 kHz.
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Applications: Rectifier Circuit 13

• A rectifier is a circuit that converts an ac signal into a unidirectional signal. A rectifier

is a type of ac–dc converter.
• Depending on the type of input supply, the rectifiers are classified into two types: (1)
single phase and (2) three phase. A single-phase rectifier can be either a half wave or a
full wave.
• A single-phase half-wave rectifier is the simplest type used in electronic power supply
front end and ac motor drive supply front end.
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Rectifier Waveforms 14

Load voltage is not smooth Supply current is not sinusoidal

If ripple is not too high,

Rectifier Application in an SMPS 15

• The term ‘Switched Mode Power Supply’ (SMPS) refers to a family of devices that are
able to convert from one voltage to another using a switching regulator.
• Feedback control circuit ensures constant output dc power for a wide range of ac input
voltages.
• If supply rectifier output Vo reduces, Io will increase to maintain constant power into
SMPS.
• Input power can be calculated from

• Input current can be calculated from

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SMPS Example
A rectifier is the front end of a SMPS with an output of 15 V, 5 A and an efficiency of 75%.
Determine Io if Vo is 319 V.
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Capacitor Selection
 12
Capacitor Selection
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Capacitor Choice Example
In the previous example, what should be the value of C to keep Vo at 319 V?
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Hold-up Time
• Hold-up time is the time in cycles that the circuit can continue to operate if
the supply fails.
• It gives an idea of how long a power system fault has to be before a dc
power supply will fail.
• Increasing C gives better smoothing and increases hold-up time.
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Hold-up Time Calculation

Suppose the rectifier output is normally Vo and the dc load can operate
successfully with voltage as low as Vo1.

Let THU be the hold-up time.

Can use an energy approach: E = Pt, E = energy, p = power, and t = time.

Which leads to:

Or
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Hold-up Time Example
If the previous rectifier uses C=250 μF, Vs =230 V, and Vo1 = 230 V. For a load
of 100 W, what is the hold-up time?
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A Simple DC-DC Converter Example

Resistive voltage divider

23
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A Simple DC-DC Converter Example

Transistor operates in
active region

Switch operates in
cutoff and saturation
regions

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Linear Power Supply

Linear power supply

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Linear Power Supply-Example
A linear amplifier with a 20 V supply has a 10 resistor to be supplied at 5 V.
What is (i) the load power, (ii) device loss, (iii) circuit efficiency?

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Chopper With Resistive Load

(1) on-time, Ton; (2) off-time, Toff; (3) period, T = Ton + Toff
Duty Cycle,
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Chopper With Inductive Load
If load is inductive, S will be destroyed when it opens.

Need to modify circuit so that:

• vo goes to zero when S turns off
• io is not suddenly interrupted
The solution is a freewheel diode Df .
Single-phase DC-AC Inverter

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Single-phase DC-AC grid-connected inverter

• Switches in position 1 during DTs, in position 2 during (1-D)Ts

• Switching frequency fs is much greater than the AC line frequency (60 Hz or
50 Hz)
• By controlling the switch duty ratio D, it is possible to generate a sinusoidal
AC current iac (+ small switching ripple) in phase with the AC line voltage, as
long as the input DC voltage VDC is sufficiently high, i.e. as long as VDC is
greater than the peak AC line voltage
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Single-phase DC-AC grid-connected inverter

Position 1
vL=VDC –vac
iL = iac
Iin = iL

Position 2
vL= - VDC –vac
iL = iac
Iin = -iL
 20
Output Voltage and Frequency Spectrum

Output voltage
waveform of full-
bridge PWM converter

Frequency spectrum of
output voltage of full-
bridge PWM converter
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Output Voltage: Inverter

Output voltage of full-

bridge PWM converter
with square wave
approximation

The rms value of the

output voltage can be
calculated as:
 20
Fourier Series: Square Wave

The ripple effect is known as Gibbs phenomenon

 Questions?

Dr Rabiul Islam
mrislam@uow.edu.au