‫‪Power Electronics‬‬

‫‪Lecture-1‬‬
‫‪Introduction‬‬

‫د‪ .‬على رفاعى عبدالاله‬

‫كلية الهندسة بقنا جامعة االزهر‬

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Lecture Outline
 Introduction to subject

 Application Areas

 Power Electronic Devices

 Power Converters

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Course Outline

Power Electronic Devices Power Converters

• Diodes • Uncontrolled Rectifiers
• Thyristors • Controlled rectifiers
• Power Transistors • Inverters
• IGBTs • Converters
• etc.

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What is power electronics?

1) Definition
• Power electronics is a critical field of electrical engineering that focuses on the
efficient conversion and control of electric power. It involves the design, analysis, and
application of electronic circuits and devices to process high voltages and currents,
delivering power that meets diverse requirements.

Electric
Power Power
Power
input output
Converter

Control
input
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What is power electronics?

A more exact explanation:

• The primary task of power electronics is to process and control
the flow of electric energy by supplying voltages and currents in
a form that is optimally suited for user loads.

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Requirements
• Power electronics incorporates concepts
from the fields of
– Analog circuits
– Electronic devices
– Control systems
– Power systems
– Magnetics
– Electric machines
– Numerical simulation

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Key areas of power electronics:
• Power conversion: Transforming electrical power from one form to another, such as AC to DC
(rectification), DC to AC (inversion), or DC to DC (chopping).
• Power control: Regulating the flow of electrical power, including adjusting voltage, current, or
frequency.
• Power conditioning: Improving the quality of electrical power, such as filtering out harmonics or
compensating for voltage fluctuations.

Applications of power electronics:

• Renewable energy: Solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel cells.
• Electric vehicles: Battery management systems, motor drives.
• Industrial automation: Motor control, welding, heating.
• Consumer electronics: Power supplies for laptops, TVs, and smartphones.
• Smart grids: Energy storage, demand response.

Components used in power electronics:

• Semiconductors: Diodes, transistors, thyristors, MOSFETs, IGBTs.
• Inductors and capacitors: For filtering and energy storage.
• Transformers: For voltage and current transformation.
• Control circuits: Microcontrollers, digital signal processors, analog circuits. 7
Benefits of power electronics:
• Improved energy efficiency: Reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Enhanced system performance: Improving the reliability and controllability of electrical
systems.
• Cost reduction: Lowering the cost of electrical power generation, transmission, and
distribution.
• Increased flexibility: Enabling the integration of renewable energy sources and other
distributed energy resources.

Challenges in power electronics:

• High power density: Designing components and systems that can handle large amounts of
power in a small space.
• High efficiency: Minimizing energy losses during power conversion and control.
• Reliability: Ensuring the long-term operation of power electronic systems without failures.
• Electromagnetic interference (EMI): Preventing unwanted electrical noise from affecting other
electronic devices.

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Scope
• Power electronics is the invisible force behind our modern world.
From the smartphones in our pockets to the electric cars on our
roads, this technology is essential for everything we do. Without it,
we couldn't have the renewable energy sources, the cutting-edge
devices, or the efficient systems that define our lives today.
• Alternative energy systems such as wind generators, solar power,
fuel cells, and others require power electronics to function.
• Technology advances such as electric and hybrid vehicles, laptop
computers, microwave ovens, flat-panel displays, LED lighting, and
hundreds of other innovations were not possible until advances in
power electronics enabled their implementation.
• Although no one can predict the future, it is certain that power
electronics will be at the heart of fundamental energy innovations.

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Applications: Electric Vehicle
Tesla Model S

Functions of the power electronics:

1. Convert the DC battery voltage to
the variable AC required to drive
the AC motor
• 240 V battery
• Variable-frequency, variable-
voltage AC drives the motor
• AC motor propels the rear axle
• Up to 330 kW (acceleration)
• Up to 60 kW regenerative braking

2. Control charging of the battery

• Interface to 240 V 60 Hz 1φ 100 A circuit in
garage.
• Control AC current waveform to be sinusoidal,
unity power factor.
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• Control charging of battery to maximize life.
Applications: Hybrid Vehicles
Prius

Power Electronics Module:

• Convert the DC battery voltage to the
variable AC required to drive the AC
motor.
• Includes dc-dc boost converter and
dc-3φ ac inverter
• Control system can operate in all-
electric mode or in hybrid gas+electric
mode
• Partial-power electronics

Under the hood:

Gas engine
Power electronics module
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Applications: Variable-Speed Wind Turbine Systems

• AC generator produces “wild ac”:

frequency and amplitude change
with wind speed.
• Utility operates with constant
frequency (60 Hz) constant voltage
ac.
• Power electronics changes the
frequency and voltage, and also
implements control functions
• Cycloconverter, or
• DC link system: rectifier, boost
dc-dc, inverter

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Applications: Photovoltaic Solar Power Systems

Grid-tied solar: inverter

converts dc of solar panels to ac
for grid.
The grid-tied system will allow you to have more
savings because it is efficient, it offers net
metering, and it requires a low cost of equipment
and installation

Stand-alone solar: dc-dc

converter interfaces solar panels
to batteries
A stand-alone solar system the solar
panels are not connected to a grid but
instead are used to charge a bank of
batteries

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A standalone photovoltaic power system

The system constructed in ECEN 4517/5517 Power

Electronics and Photovoltaic Systems Laboratory

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Applications: Computer power supply
systems

Laptop power system

iPhone power system and charger

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Trends in Power Supplies
• Two trends can be observed in electronic power supplies,
one of the most important classes of power electronic
circuits.

– At one end, microprocessors, memory chips, and other

advanced digital circuits require increasing power levels and
increasing performance at very low voltage.

– At the other end, the explosive growth of portable devices with

rechargeable batteries. The power supplies for these devices
and for other consumer products must be cheap and efficient.

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Trends in Power Supplies
• In the past, bulky "linear" power supplies with transformers and
rectifiers were developed from the AC mains frequency to provide
DC voltages for electronic circuits.
• In a well-designed power electronic arrangement, now called a
switching power supply, an AC source from a wall outlet is
rectified without direct conversion.
• The resulting high DC voltage is converted to the required 1, 3, 5,
and 12 V or other values by a DC-DC converter.

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Trends in Power Supplies
• A personal computer commonly requires multiple 3.3-
and 5-V supplies, 12-V supplies, additional levels, and a
separate converter for 1-V delivery to the
microprocessor.

• Only a switch-mode supply can support such complex

requirements with acceptable costs.

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Key Characteristics of Power Converter
• All power electronic circuits manage the flow of electrical energy
between an electrical source and a load.
• The parts of an electric circuit must conduct the electric currents and not
stop them.

• The function of the power converter in the middle is to control the

energy flow between a source and a load.
• A crucial point emerges for the construction of a power converter, we
should consider only lossless components.
• A realistic converter design must approach 100% efficiency.
• In power electronics, rectification is the process of converting AC to DC,
so a rectifier and an AC to DC converter mean the same thing. Rectifiers
convert AC to DC, while converters convert AC to DC or DC to AC.
Devices Available to the circuit
designer

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Devices available to the circuit designer

Signal processing: avoid magnetics

How do you reduce magnetic fringing? Leakage flux and magnetic fringing are an
undesirable phenomenon. They can be reduced by selecting high-quality magnetic material
and making the air gap as narrow as possible 21
Devices available to the circuit designer

Power processing: avoid lossy elements

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• Buck converters enable DC-DC conversion in power supplies to step down a high input
voltage to a lower output voltage.
• A boost converter (step-up converter) is a DC-to-DC power converter that steps up
voltage (while stepping down current) from its input (supply) to its output (load).
• Switched-mode power supply (switching-mode power supply, switch-mode
power supply, switched power supply, SMPS, or switcher) is an electronic
power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently
.
• In a linear power supply, the frequency input from an outlet or another source is
input directly to the transformer, whereas in a switching power supply, the
current after rectification is sent to the transformer as a high-frequency pulse
• Switching semiconductor: Transistors and other semiconductor devices may also be used as
switches.

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Power loss in an ideal
switch

• Switch closed: v(t) = 0

• Switch open: i(t) = 0

• In either event: p(t) = v(t) i(t) = 0

• Ideal switch consumes zero

power
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Power Electronic Devices
• The power Electronic devices provides the
utility of switching.

• The flow of power through these devices can

be controlled via small currents.

• Power electronics devices differ from ordinary

electronics devices in terms of their
characteristics.
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Power Electronic Devices
• Power Semiconductor Devices can be
classified into three groups according to their
degree of controllability.

– Diodes (on and off controlled by power circuit)

– Thyristors (latched on by control signal but must
be turned off by power circuit)
– Controllable Switches (turned on and off by
control signal)

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Conversion Examples
• Single-Switch Circuits
– Consider the circuit shown in figure.
– It contains an ac source, a switch, and a resistive load.
– It is a simple but complete power electronic system.

• What if the switch is turned on whenever Vac >0, and

turned off otherwise?
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END OF LECTURE-1

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