Fundamentals of Power Electronics

Abstract

This chapter gives a description and overview of power electronic technologies including a description of the fundamental systems that are the building blocks of power electronic systems. Technologies that are described include: power semiconductor switching devices, converter circuits that process energy from one DC level to another DC level, converters that produce variable frequency from DC sources, principles of rectifying AC input voltage in uncontrolled DC output voltage and their extension to controlled rectifiers, converters that convert to AC from DC (inverters) or from AC with fixed or variable output frequency (AC controllers, DC-DC-AC converters, matrix converters, or cycloconverters). The chapter also covers control of power converters with focus on pulse width modulation (PWM) control techniques.