17-11-2017, 12:17 PM
Power electronics is the application of solid state electronics for the control and conversion of electrical energy. The first high-power electronic devices were mercury arc valves. In modern systems, the conversion is carried out with semiconductor switching devices, such as diodes, thyristors and transistors, initiated by R.D.D. Middlebrook and others from the 1950s. Unlike electronic systems related to the transmission and processing of signals and data, considerable amounts of electrical energy are processed in power electronics. An AC / DC converter (rectifier) is the most typical power electronics device found in many consumer electronic devices, e.g. televisions, personal computers, battery chargers, etc. The power range is typically from tens of watts to several hundred watts. In industry, a common application is the variable speed drive (VSD) that is used to control an induction motor. The power range of the VSD starts from a few hundred watts and ends in tens of megawatts.