Industrial Electronics

Part I: Power Electronics

Lesson I: Introduction to Power Electronics

David Anseán, PhD

Assistant Professor
Polytechnic School of Engineering, Gijón
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Dept.
anseandavid@uniovi.es
What is Power Electronics?
Power Electronics definitions
• The application of solid-state electronics for the control and conversion of electric power
• The art of converting electrical energy from one form to another in an EFFICIENT, clean,
compact, and robust manner for the energy utilization to meet the desired needs

A source and a load interfaced by a power electronics converter

Relationship of power electronics to power, electronics and control

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What is Power Electronics?
Applications of Power Electronics
• Laptop charging system

SOURCE
(Outlet)

LOAD
(Laptop)

Power Electronics
Converter
(charger)

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What is Power Electronics?
Applications of Power Electronics
• External battery charging system
SOURCE
(Battery)

LOAD
(Phone)
Power Electronics
Converter
(Embedded in battery pack)

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Types of Power Electronics Circuits
Power Electronics Converters
• Power Electronics circuits can be classified into four main different types:

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Types of Power Electronics Circuits
Example of Power Electronics converters
• Inverter: DC to AC converter

DC
Input

AC
Output
Doesn’t really look sinusoidal…is there a problem?

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Types of Power Electronics Circuits
Example of a Power Electronics converters
• Block diagram of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)

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Types of Power Electronics Circuits
Example of a Power Electronics converters
• Equivalent model of an energy harvesting system

What would you do to improve the efficiency of the system?

(hint: is there a way to reduce voltage drop in the rectifier?)

Precision rectifier

Or using “ultra-low voltage drop diodes”,

Schottky diodes

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Applications of Power Electronics
• Virtually in any modern industrial and commercial system

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Power Electronics Overview
• Power Electronics Course overview (lecture & discussion sessions)
Lesson I: Introduction to Power Electronics (~4 h)
• Introduction to Power Electronics
• Power computation
• Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Lesson II: Rectifiers (AC/DC converters) (~6 h)
• Half-wave rectifiers
• Full-wave rectifiers
Lesson III: Power Supplies (DC/DC converters) (~7 h)
• DC-DC converters
• Power supplies
Lesson IV: Inverters (DC/AC converters) (~5 h)
• Half-bridge inverters
• Multilevel inverters
Lesson VI: Power Electronic Devices & Applications (~ 3 h)
• Protection of devices and circuits
• Applications

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Power Computations
• Power and Energy
Instantaneous power of any device
• Computed from the voltage across it and the current in it
• Required to determine the current ratings of the device and components
• Units in Watts [W]
• Generally a time-varying quantity

Energy
• Energy or work, is the integral of the instantaneous power
• Units in joules (J) or watt-hour [Wh]

Average power
• Periodic voltage and current functions produce a periodic instantaneous power function
• Is the time average of the power p(t)
• The expression applies for average voltage or current (it is an infinitesimal calculus function definition)

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Power Computations
• Root-mean-square (rms)
Effective values: root-mean-square (rms) values
• Required to determine the conduction losses in a device
• Required to determine the current ratings of the device and components (given in rms values)
• AC power system voltage and currents are invariably given in rms values

Fundamentals of rms
• rms value of a periodic waveform is based on the average power deliver to a resistor in DC

rms of a sinusoidal waveform

• rms for a sinusoidal is independent of the frequency

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Power Computations
• Root-mean-square
• rms values of different waveforms that are commonly encountered
in power electronics

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Power Computations
• Fourier series
Concept
• Used to evaluate the performance of a converter (quality of its v(t) and i(t) waveforms)
• Under steady-state conditions (i.e., not under transient conditions), the output voltage of a
power electronics system is, generally a periodic function that can be written as:

• The Fourier theorem states that a periodic function v(t) can be described by a constant term plus
an infinite series of sine and cosine terms of frequency nω, where n is an integer
• Graphically:
Periodic function: the square wave If we add all the infinite terms, it is
possible to reconstruct the square wave
function

Series of sine and cosine terms

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Power Computations
• Fourier series
Mathematically
• The signal (e.g., square wave, triangle wave) can be expressed as:

• The constants can be determined by the following expressions (left)

• And since sines and cosines of same frequency can be combined, expressions (right) are used:

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Power Computations
• Fourier series
• Fourier series of common signals in Power Electronics

• Interactive examples of the Fourier series

http://lpsa.swarthmore.edu/Fourier/Series/ExFS.html

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Power Computations
• Fourier series
Average Power in Fourier series
• If periodic voltage and current waveforms represented by the Fourier series exist for a circuit, the
average power is:

and

• The average of the products of the dc terms is Vo· Io. Average power for nonsinusoidal periodic
voltage and current waveform is:

(notice that the total average power is the sum of the powers at
the frequencies in the Fourier series)

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Power Electronics Overview
• Measures of quality; Measures quality of waveforms in Power Electronics
Apparent Power (S)
• Product of rms voltage and currents. Often used to specify rating of power equipment:

Power Factor
• The ratio of the real power flowing to the load to the apparent power in the circuit
• Dimensionless numbers in the closed interval of – 1 (load acting as generator) to 1 (load)
• A power factor less than 1 means that the voltage and current waveforms are not in phase
• In sinusoidal AC circuits the calculation results in pf = Cos ϕ

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)

• Term used to quantify the nonsinusoidal property (quality) of a waveform
• THD is the ratio of the rms value of all the nonfundamental frequency terms to the rms value of
the fundamental frequency term (applied to current and voltages)

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Power Electronics Overview
• Measures of quality; Measures of quality of waveforms in Power Electronics
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
• Another equivalent terms to express THD (rms of the signal minus the rms of fundamental):

• If the dc term is zero:

• THD is used to evaluate the quality of a signal; Power Electronic systems create distortion (noisy)
on the output, which could interfere with the communication and signaling circuits (Electro-
Magnetic Interference, EMI)
• Low THD means reduction in peak currents, heating, emissions, and core loss in magnetics
• THD must be larger than zero, although it does not have upper limits

Waveform with harmonics

• Harmonics calculated individually, then combined with the following expression:

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Electronic switches
• Characterized by having two stages: on and off
• Ideally, off being an open circuit, and on being a short circuit

Controlled switch

Switch

Quiz: what is the power absorbed by the switch if ideal?

Switches in Power Electronics fundamentals

• Real devices absorb power both when in the on and off states
• Even if absorbs power, efficiencies of power electronic systems are quite high (in their upper 90’s)
• To understand and emphasize circuit operation is useful switch model rather than device
performance. Hence, electronic devices (e.g., transistors, diodes) are modeled as ideal switches
• Real systems, simulations or advanced designs take into consideration switching losses

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Real switches (and devices)
• Real switches do not switch instantly: on and off takes
time (vsw ,isw)
• The off state has a very high impedance, hence some
small current can flow
• The on state has very low impedance, hence some
small voltage drops occurs
• Power absorbed (dissipated) by the device is a critical
parameter for efficient and robust design (generates
heat, Joule’s law)

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
The diode
• Simplest electronic switch
• It is uncontrollable (the on and off conditions are determined by the voltages and currents in
the circuit)
• The diode is forwarded-biased (on) id current is positive (short circuit)
• The diode is reverse-biased (off) when vd is negative (open circuit)
• Reverse recovery time (trr). Diodes cannot instantly turn off (it takes time for recombination)
• During trr the diode behaves as a short circuit and is not capable of blocking reverse voltage,
allowing current to flow in the opposite direction

Symbol Real Ideal

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
The diode
• High power diodes (number represents the configuration)

DO 5

B 44

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
The diode
• Configurations for different heatsinks (dissipate excess of heat)

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Diode (real characteristics)
• rms forward current
• Repetitive peak forward current
• Repetitive peak reverse voltage
• Non repetitive peak reverse voltage
• Reverse recovery time

Datasheets:

5A

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Power Transistors: MOSFETs
• MOSFET: Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor
• Transistors are operated as switches in power electronics circuits (fully on or fully off)
• This differs from transistors used as amplifiers! Active region, simultaneously having high voltage
and high current
• Turn-on and turn-off of a transistor is controllable (unlike diodes)
• The control is via Gate, and it requires only a small input current (due to high input impedance)
• Switching speed is very high ~100 kHz

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Power Transistors: MOSFETs
• On resistance and maximum direct current are some of the most critical parameters for MOSFET
design
• Search on datasheets from manufacturers to get the complete set of parameters
• https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/418838/INFINEON/IPB034N06L3G.html

RDS(on)=3.4 mW, ID= 90A

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Power Transistors: MOSFETs
• Examples on different packages
• The higher the current, the lower the resistance should be

RDS(on) = 9.4 mW; ID= 12A

RDS(on) = 12 mW; ID = 57A

RDS(on) = 9 mW, ID = 93 A
RDS(on) = 5.5 mW, ID = 86A RDS(on) = 1.5 mW, ID = 240 A

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Power Transistors: IGBT
• Insulated-gate Bipolar Transistor
• An IGBT combines the advantages of MOSFETS (simple gate-drive and low input currents due to
high impedance) with the advantages of BJTs (low on-state conduction losses)
• Current ratings can be up to 6500 V, 2400 A and switching frequencies up to 20 kHz
• IGBTs have replaced BJT transistors in most applications

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Power Transistors: IGBT
• Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
The Thyristor or SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier)
• Electronic switches used in power electronics (large currents and large blocking voltages)
• SCRs only control the on state
• Thyristor often refers to a family of three-terminal devices
• Used in high power applications; Switching frequencies are not that high

Symbol Ideal v- i characteristics

Real v- i characteristics
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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Thyristor types
• There are several thyristors with off capabilities by gate control (e.g., GTO, MTO…)
• Each thyristor has advantages and disadvantages (design)
• GTOs and IGCTs are increasingly used in high-power applications

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Switch selection
• The selection of a power device for a particular application depends not only on the required
voltage and current levels but also on its switching characteristics
• Transistors and GTOs provide control of both turn-on and turnoff, SCRs of turn on but not
turnoff, and diodes of neither
• Switching speeds and the associated power losses are critical in power electronics circuits as
they are related to energy efficiency
• MOSFETS have an advantage in switching speeds
• When selecting a suitable switching device, the first consideration is the required operating point
and turn-on and turn off characteristics. Complexity of driving circuit is also important
• Cost and reliability is also a critical factor (and are related)
• All these characteristics are to be found in the device datasheets

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Classification of the power semiconductors

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Power ranges of commercially available power semiconductors

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Ratings of commercially available power semiconductors

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Ratings of commercially available power semiconductors

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Electronic devices in Power Electronics
Applications of power devices

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