Debre Markos University

College of Technology
Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering

Power Electronics and Electric

Drives

Introduction to Power Electronics

Engidaw Abel
 Introduction
Power electronics (PE) branch of electrical
engineering based on the motion of electron in
semiconductor material to control current (power)
flow
Task of PE: To convert, i.e. to process and control
the flow of electric power by supplying voltages
and currents in a form that is optimally suited for
user loads

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Power Electronic System

Power output
Power input
Power processor Load
vo, io
v i, i i

measurements

Control
Reference

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Power Electronic System
PE system shown above, in most cases the input
is electric utility with 50(60)Hz, 1-ph or 3-phase.
In this system high efficiency is required,
because of two reasons:
the cost of wasted energy
the difficulties to remove the heat generated
Others important considerations are reduction in
size, weight and cost
The above objective in most systems can not be
met, where the semiconductor switches
operates in linear (active) region.
In PE system switching devices operates in their
switching modes.

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Types of PE converters
Based on input/ output form (frequency)
PE converters can be divided into:
AC-DC converter (Rectifier)
DC-AC converter (Inverter)
DC-DC converter (Chopper)
AC-AC converter (AC voltage controllers)

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Scope and application of PE
PE experienced large growth rate due to:
Need for switch-mode power supplies in different electronic
equipment
Energy conservation requirement
Process control and factory automation
Transportation
Electro-technical application like welding,
Utility related applications like High voltage dc transmission
(HVDC) applications

Applications
Residential and commercial
Industrial
Transportation
Utility system
Telecommunications
Aerospace

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Interdisciplinary nature of PE
circuit theory
Digital/analogue electronics
Power and energy
Microelectronics
Control system
Computer, simulation and software
Solid-state physics and devices
Packaging
Heat transfer

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Electric Motor Drives
A modern variable speed system has four
components:
Electric machine(motor):AC or DC
Converter: rectifier, inverter, chopper or
cycloconverter
Controller: matching the converter and the
electric machines(motor) to meet the load
requirements
Load:

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Electric motor drive system block
diagram

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Electric machines(motors)
The electric machines currently used for speed
control applications are the following:
dc machines-Shunt. series, compound,
separately-excited dc motors,
ac machines-Induction, wound-rotor
synchronous, permanent-magnet synchronous,
Special machines-Switched reluctance
machines
All the machines are commercially available from
fractional-kW to MW ranges except permanent-
magnet synchronous and switched reluctance
machines, which are available up to 150 kW level.

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How to select a motor for a particular
application?
A number of factors go into the selection of a
machine for a particular application:
Cost
Thermal capacity
Efficiency
Torque-speed profile
Acceleration
Power density, volume of the motor
Ripple, cogging torques
Availability of spare and second sources
Robustness
Suitability for hazardous environment
Peak torque capability
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Power Converters
The power converters are devices which
drive electric machines. These are:
Controlled rectifiers
Inverters
Cyclo-converters:

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Power Converters Contd
Controlled rectifiers
are fed from single- and three-phase ac mains
supply and provide a dc output for control of the dc
machines or sometimes input dc supply to the
inverters in the case of ac machines.

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Power Converters Contd
Inverters:
provide variable alternating voltages and currents at
desired frequency and phase for the control of ac
machines. The dc supply input to the inverters is
derived either from a battery in the case of the electric
vehicle or from a rectified ac source with controlled or
uncontrolled (diode) rectifiers. Because of the dc
intermediary, known as dc link, between the supply ac
source and the output of the inverter, there is no
limitation to the attainable output frequency other than
that of the power device switching constraints in the
inverters.

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Power Converters Contd
Cyclo-converters:
provide a direct conversion of fixed-frequency
alternating voltage/current to a variable voltage/current
variable frequency for the control of ac machines. The
output frequency is usually limited from 33 to 500/0 of
the input supply frequency, to avoid distortion of the
waveform and therefore they are used only in low-speed
but high-power ac motor drives.

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