EC3033 Power Electronics

EC3033 Power Electronics

Lecture 1: Introduction
Dr. Ruwan Chandrasena
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EC 3033 Power Electronics
What is Power Electronics

 The electric energy is needed in different forms for many user loads.

 The task of power electronics is to process and control the flow of electric
energy by supplying voltage and current in a form optimally suited to the user
loads.

 Power Electronics is the art of converting electrical energy from one form to
another in an efficient, clean, compact, and robust manner for convenient
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utilization.
EC 3033 Power Electronics
What is Power Electronics
 Power electronics is interdisciplinary in nature and requires the knowledge in
many fields.

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
History of Power Electronics
 History of Power Electronics began in 1900 with the invention of glass bulb
mercury arc rectifiers resulting the era of vacuum tube electronics.
 This era ended up with the invention of Germanium transistor in the Bell
Laboratory in 1947 by three physicists Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley.

 The age of modern era of power electronics began in 1958 when General
Electric Company introduced a commercial Thyristor (SCR), two years after it
was invented by the Bell Laboratory.

 Less than 20 years after commercial SCR was first introduced, significant
improvements in semiconductor fabrication technology and physical operation
were made and many different types of power semiconductor devices were
introduced.
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EC 3033 Power Electronics
History of Power Electronics cont..
 The growth in power electronics is made possible with the microelectronic
revolution of the 1970s and 1980s by which the low-power IC control chips
provided the brain and the intelligence to control the high-power semiconductor
devices.

 The introduction of microprocessors made it possible to apply modern control

theory into power electronics.

 In the last 25 years, the growth in power electronic applications was noticeable
because of the introduction of very fast, high temperature, and high-power
switching devices, coupled with the utilization of advanced digital control
algorithms.

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
History of Power Electronics cont..

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Semiconductor Devices

Power Diodes

Thyristors (SCR)

BJTs

MOSFETs

IGBTs

GTOs

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices
 Power semiconductor devices can be classified based on the material used,
number of available terminals, number of available p-n layers, ability to control
and direction of current flow, etc.

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices
 Based on material used

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices
 Based on number of terminals

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices
 Based on number of layers

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices
 Based on controllability

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices
 Based on bidirectional capability

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Selection of Power Switches
 In selecting a power
switch/es for an
application, among in
many other things,
its voltage rating,
current rating,
switching speed and
its on-state voltage
drop need to be
considered.

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Application of Power Electronics
 Power electronics has already gained an important place in modern
technology.
 Used in almost all new electrical or electro-mechanical equipment ranging from
household microwave ovens to High Voltage DC transmission systems.

 Difficult to draw the boundaries for the applications of power electronics,

especially with the trends in the development of power devices and
microprocessors, the upper limit is undefined.

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Application of Power Electronics cont..

Refrigeration and freezers

Residential
Space heating
Air conditioning
Commercial Cooking
Electronics (personal computer, other entertainment
equipment)
Industrial

Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning

Utility systems Central refrigeration
Lighting
Transportation Uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs)
Elevators

Aerospace Pumps, Compressors, Blowers and fans

Machine tools (robots)
Lighting
Telecommunication Industrial lasers
Welding
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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Application of Power Electronics cont..

High-voltage dc transmission (HVDC)

Residential
Static var compensation (SVC)
Renewable energy sources (wind, photovoltaic)
Commercial Energy storage systems

Traction control of electric vehicles

Industrial Battery charges for electric vehicles
Electric locomotives
Utility systems Street cars

Satellite power systems

Transportation Aircraft power systems

Battery charges
Aerospace Power supplies (dc and UPS)

Telecommunication

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches

Power Switches are the key elements of the power converter which is the heart of
the modern power electronics. The two major desirable characteristics guiding
their development are

 Switching speed (turn-on and turn-off times).

 Power-handling capabilities (voltage-blocking and current-carrying

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches

Why power switches are required?

 Power processing (conditioning the voltage and current in order to suit the
load/application requirement).
 Operating the power switches in switch-mode to increase the efficiency.
 Compactness (increasing the operating frequency(switching frequency)
reduce the size of the required magnetic elements).

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches (Example)
 12 V voltage needs to supplied across a 6  resistor from a 24V source. What
are the possible circuit configuration available to achieve above objective and
what are the efficiencies resulting from each configuration. You may assume
additional components and characteristics needed.

 Option 1:

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches (Example)
 Option 2:

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches (Example)
 Option 3:

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches (Example)
 Option 4:

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches: Losses
In a real world, ideal switch does not exist

 Limited power-handling capabilities, i.e., limited conduction current when the

switch is in the on state, and limited blocking voltage when the switch is in the off-
state.

 Finite on-state and off-state resistances , the existence of forward voltage drop in
the on state, and reverse current flow(leakage) in the off state which causes the
switching losses (Losses increases with switching speed).

 Limited switching speed, caused by the finite turn-on and turn-off times, which
limits the operating frequency of the device

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches: Losses

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches: Losses
 Switching Power Losses

Switching power loss is proportional to:

•Switching frequency
•Turn-on and turn-off times

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Power Electronic Switches: Losses
 Switching Power Loss

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Overview of a Power Electronic System

Power Processor can be categorized in terms of its input and output forms. In most of the
power electronic systems, the input is from electric utility source depending on the
application. Power processor can consists one converter or two converters connected in
series with an energy storage element in between.
Power conversion stage is referred to as power converter and is the basic building block of
the power processor. The power converters are built using power semiconductor devices
and energy storage elements (inductances and capacitances).
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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Overview of a Power Electronic System

There are four possible power conversion operations, hence four converter
types.
a) AC to DC converter (Rectifiers)
b) DC to AC converter (Inverters)
c) DC to DC converter (Choppers)
d) AC to AC converter (Voltage Regulators)

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EC 3033 Power Electronics
Next lesson …

 Power Diodes and Circuits

 AC to DC Conversion

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