POWER ELECTRONICS

HISTORY

Power electronics has its beginnings in 1900, with the introduction of the mercury arc rectifier. Then
gradually appeared the metal tank rectifier, the controlled grid high vacuum tube rectifier, the
ignitron, the fanotron and the tyratron. These were applied to power control until the 1950s.

In 1948 the first electronic revolution began with the invention of the silicon transistor at the Bell
Telephone Laboratories by Messrs. Bardeen, Brattain, and Schockley. Another of the great
inventions was the pnpn trigger transistor, which was defined as a thyristor or silicon controlled
rectifier (SCR). The second electronic revolution was in 1958 with the development of the
commercial thyristor by the General Electric Company. That was the beginning of the new era of
power electronics, to date various power semiconductor devices and conversion techniques have
been introduced. The power electronics revolution is giving us the ability to shape and control large
amounts of energy with ever-increasing efficiency.

POWER ELECTRONICS APPLICATIONS

For many years there has been a need to control electronic power in traction systems and industrial
controls driven by electric motors; This has led to an early development of the Ward-Leonard system
with the aim of obtaining a variable direct current voltage for the control of motors and drivers.
Power electronics have revolutionized the idea of control for power conversion and for the control
of electronic motors.

Power electronics combine power, electronics, and control. The control takes care of the steady
state and the dynamic characteristics of closed-loop systems. The energy has to do with the static
and rotating or rotating power energy equipment, for the generation, transmission and distribution
of electrical energy. Electronics takes care of the solid-state circuits and devices required in signal
processing to meet desired control objectives. Power electronics can be defined as the application
of solid state electronics for the control and conversion of electrical energy.

Power electronics is based, first of all, on the switching of power semiconductor devices. With the
development of power semiconductor technology, the power handling capabilities and switching
speed of power devices have increased.

The development of microprocessor-microcomputer technologies has a great impact on the control

and synthesis of the control strategy for power semiconductor devices. Modern power electronics
equipment uses power semiconductors, which can be compared to muscle, and microelectronics,
which has the power and intelligence of the brain.