Overview to

Power Electronics

Mohd Shawal Bin Jadin

Ext : 2321
A01-2074
shawal@ump.edu.my
 Learning Outcomes
• At the end of the lecture,
student should be able to:
– Identify the function of electronics
switches, hence to select a proper
switching for certain applications.
– Outline the principles of energy
recovery and also to calculate the
power for non-sinusoidal periodic
waveform
 Chapter 1
• Definition of Power x1
y1
Load1

Electronics x2 Power Electronic

y2
Load2
"Power" Circuit
• Multidisciplinary Nature of xm
yn
Loadn

the Field Electric al f1 f2 fk Electrical or

Inputs Mechanical
• Block Diagrams of Power "Sources"
Output "Loads"
Feedback
Electronic Systems "Control Circuit"

• The Need for Power

Electronics (input) (output)
Source Side Load Side
• Future Trends
• Types of Power Conversion Power
Processing
• Electronic Switch circuit
Load
(P loss )
• Switch Selection
• Energy Recovery
 What is Power
Electronics?
• Generally:
– Electronics: Solid State Electronics Devices
and their Driving Circuits.
– Power: Static and Dynamic Requirements for
Generation, Conversion and Transmission of
Power.
– Control: The Steady State and Dynamic
Stability of the Closed Loop system.
• POWER ELECTRONICS may be
defined as the application of Solid
State Electronics for the Control and
 Definition of Power
Electronics
• DEFINITION:
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.
 Power Electronics (PE)
Systems
• To convert electrical energy from
one form to another, i.e. from the
source to load with:
• highest efficiency,
• highest availability
• highest reliability
• lowest cost,
• smallest size
• least weight
Detailed Block Diagram of
Power Electronics System
Form of elec. or
Pre-stage Power proc. stage Post stage mechan. energy
Output
Input Filter Filter
Electrical
& PE Circuit & Load
Mechanical
Form of Rectify Rectify
electrical
energy Could generate
undesirable
Mostly waveforms
unregulate
d dc Electrical Variable
voltage Feedback
Control
Circuit
Switch
Drives

Mechanical Variable
Mostly ac line Feedback
voltage (single
or three phase)
Interface between Process feedback
control and power signals and decide
circuits on control
 Applications
• Static applications
– involves non-rotating or moving
mechanical components.
– Examples:
• DC Power supply
• Un-interruptible power supply, Power
generation and transmission
• (HVDC), Electroplating, Welding, Heating,
• Cooling, Electronic ballast
 Applications
• Drive applications
– intimately contains moving or rotating
components such as motors.
– Examples:
• Electric trains, Electric vehicles, Air-
conditioning System, Pumps, Compressor,
• Conveyer Belt (Factory automation).
 Application examples
• Static Application: DC Power Supply
 Application examples
• Drive Application: Air-Conditioning
System
 Other Applications

Electroplating, Welding Heating, cooling, CFL

Photovoltaic Systems.
eV (fuel cell, Solar)

Wind-electric systems.
 Conversion concept: example1
• Supply from TNB: 50Hz, 240V RMS (340V
peak). Customer need DC voltage for welding
purpose, say.
• TNB sine-wave supply
gives zero DC
component!
• We can use simple half-
wave rectifier. A fixed DC
voltage is now obtained.
This is a simple PE system.

• Average output voltage

1
Power Electonics, PM Dr Zainal Salam, UTM
 Conversion concept: example
(Cont)1
• How about if customer wants variable DC
voltage?
– More complex circuit using SCR is
required.
Average output Voltage

• By controlling the firing angle, α, the output DC voltage

(after conversion) can be varied.

1
Power Electonics, PM Dr Zainal Salam, UTM
 Advantages of Power Electronics
• High energy conversion efficiency
– Instead of using 50/60Hz motor-generator

• Higher Reliability and cost effective

– Less maintenance, longer lifetime, light and small size, fast recovery
time, unlimited range of conversion
• Environmentally clean and safe
– produce no hazardous waste products
– Burning of fossil fuel emits gases such as C,0,, CO (oil burning), S02,
NOx (coal burning) etc. Creates global warming (green house effect),
acid raill and urban pollution h-oll)
• Quite operation
– has no moving parts, suitable for residential, hotels etc

• reduce dependence on fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, oil) and

nuclear power resource (uranium).
– Effort to tap renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, fuel-cell etc.
need to be increased.

• Special effort is needed to reduce pollution in cities by enforcing

the use of electric vehicle.
 PE growth
• PE rapid growth due to:
– Advances in power (semiconductor)
•
switches
– Advances in microelectronics
(DSP, VLSI, microprocessor /
microcontroller, ASIC)
– New ideas in control algorithms
– Demand for new applications
PE is an interdisciplinary
field:
– – Digital/analogue electronics
– – Power
• and energy
– – Microelectronics
– – Control system
– – Computer, simulation and
software
– – Solid-state physics and
devices
– – Packaging
Power Electronics Converters
AC to DC: RECTIFIER

DC to DC: CHOPPER

DC to AC: INVERTER

AC to AC: CYCLOCONVERTER
 Power semiconductor
devices
(Power switches)
• Can be categorised into three
groups:

– Uncontrolled: Diode

– Semi-controlled: Thyristor (SCR)

– Fully controlled: Power

transistors e.g. BJT,MOSFET, IGBT, GTO,
Photos of Power Switches (From
Powerex Inc.)
Power Electronics Converters
AC to DC: RECTIFIER

DC to DC: CHOPPER

DC to AC: INVERTER

AC to AC: CYCLOCONVERTER
 The Need For Switching In Power
Electronic Circuits
• The need to use semiconductor switching
devices in power electronic circuits is based on
their ability to control and manipulate very
large amounts of power from the input to the
output with relatively very low power
dissipation in the switching device.

• Implication of low efficiency:

– The cost of energy increases due to
increased consumption.
– Additional design complications might be
imposed, especially regarding the design
of device heat sinks
 Example
Investigate the efficiency of four different power
electronic circuits whose function is to take power
from a 24 V dc source and deliver a 12 V dc output
to a 6Ω resistive load.
load In other words, the task of
these circuits is to serve as dc transformers with a
ratio of 2 : 1. The four circuits are shown in Fig. 1
(a), (b), (c), and (d) representing a voltage divider
circuit, zener regulator (assume IZ is 10% of load
current), transistor linear regulator, and switching
circuit, respectively.
respectively [Hint: For circuit (d), Vo=Vin*D]
 Example (Cont)

(e) Zener diode i-v switching characteristics. (f) Switching

waveforms for circuit
 Example (Cont)
• Cicuit (a) : Voltage Divider dc Regulator
• Since Vin=24V and RL=6Ω and desired Vo=12V.
η
Hence, R = RL=6Ω. =Pout
Pin
P
% = L %
Pin
Thus, RL 6
= % = % =50%
RL + R 6+ 6

• Cicuit (b) : Zener dc Regulator

• Since desired Vo=12V, hence the blocking voltage for zener diode, VZ
= 12V. I T =I L + Iz
Since, RL=6Ω. Thus IL=2A. = 2+ 0. 2
=2. 2 A
Assume that, IZ = 0.2A
Pin =2. 2 × 24 =52.8W
(10% of load current) Pout =2×12 =24W
Thus,
η=Pout % =
24
% =45.5%
Pin 52.8
 Example (Cont)
• Cicuit (c) : Transistor dc Regulator

For Vo=12V, it is clear that VCE must be around 12V.

Hence, the control circuit must provide base current,
IB to put transistor in active mode with VCE=12V. For
given Vo=12V and RL=6Ω, thus IL=2A.
=2A

Thus, IC = 2A since IB too small in such that to turn on

transistor.
Pin = Vin I c = 2( 24) = 48W
Pdiss =VCE I C +VBE I B
≈VCE I C ≈12 ×2 =24W
P
η
∴= out % =
Pin
24
48
% =50%
 Example (Cont)
• Cicuit (d) : Switching dc Regulator
Assume the switch is ideal and periodically turn on and off.
From figure (f), Vo is given by

Ts D
1
Vo , ave =
Ts ∫
V
0
in dt =
Vin D

• For Vo,ave=12V, hence D=0.5 (Vo,ave=24 x 0.5 =12V)

=12V

Since Vin =24V , Pin =I L ×Vin =2×24 =48W

Due to switching ( assume ideal ),
P 48
Pout =Pin , η= out % = % =100%
Pin 48
Ideal Switching Characteristics
• No limit on the amount of current that the
device can carry when in the conduction
state (on-state)
• No limit on the amount of device voltage
(known as blocking voltage) when the
device is in the non-conduction state (off-
state)
• Zero on-state voltage drop when in the
conduction state
• Zero leakage current when in the
nonconduction state
• No limit on the operating speed of the
Ideal Switching Characteristics

Power loss
 The Practical Switch
• The practical switch has the following
switching and conduction characteristics:
– Limited power-handling capabilities
– Limited switching speed
– The existence of forward voltage drop
in the on state, and reverse current
flow (leakage) in the off state
– Because of characteristics 2 and 3, the
practical switch experiences power
losses in the on and off states (known
as conduction loss) and during
switching transitions (known as
 Power Diodes

• When diode is forward biased, it conducts

current with a small forward voltage (Vf) across
it (0.2-3V)

• When reversed (or blocking state), a negligibly

small leakage current (uA to mA) flows until the
reverse breakdown occurs. Diode should not be
operated at reverse voltage greater than Vr.
Thus, higher voltage blocking is needed.
Power Diode (Reverse Recovery)
• When a diode is switched quickly from
forward to reverse bias, it continues to
conduct due to the minority carriers
which remains in the p-n junction.

• The minority carriers require finite time,

i.e, trr (reverse recovery time) to
recombine with opposite charge and
neutralize.

• Effects of reverse recovery are increase

in switching losses, increase in voltage
rating, over-voltage (spikes) in inductive
Power Diode (Reverse Recovery)
 Types of Power Diodes

• Line frequency (general • Fast recovery

purpose) : • very low trr (<1us).
• on state voltage very • Power levels at several
low (below 1V) hundred volts and several
• large trr (about 25us) hundred amps
• Normally used in high
• very high current (up to frequency circuits
5kA) and voltage (5kV)
ratings
• Used in line-frequency
(50/60Hz)
• applications such as
• Schottky
rectifiers
• very low forward voltage drop (typical 0.3V)
• limited blocking voltage (50-100V)
• Used in low voltage, high current
• application such as switched mode power
supplies.
 Thyristor based
• Thyristor refers to the family of power
semiconductor devices made of three pn
junctions (four layers of pnpn)
pnpn that can be
latched into the on state through an external
gate signal that causes a regeneration
mechanism in the device.

• Thyristor family currently used in power

electronic circuits:
– The silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR),
– gate turn-off thyristor (GTO),
– triode ac switch (triac),
– static induction transistor (SIT),
– static induction thyristor (SITH),
– and MOS-controlled thyristor (NICT).
 Thyristor (SCR)

• Unlike the diode, the SCR has a third terminal called the
"gate" used for control purposes.
• The holding current is the minimum forward current the
SCR can carry in the absence of a gate drive.
• The forward breakover voltage, VBO, is the voltage across
the anode-cathode terminal that causes the SCR to turn
on without the application of a gate current.
current
• Reverse avalanche (breakdown) occurs when VAK is
negatively large.
 Thyristor (SCR)
• Thyristors can only be turned on with two conditions:
– the device is in forward blocking state (i.e Vak is positive)
– a positive gate current (Ig) is applied at the gate

• Once conducting, the anode current is LATCHED (continuously

flowing).
• In reverse - biased mode, the SCR behaves like a diode. It
conducts a small leakage current which is almost dependent of
the voltage, but increases with temperature.

• When the peak reverse voltage is exceeded, avalanche

breakdown occurs,
occurs and the large current will flow.
• In the forward biased mode, with no gate current present (i.e. in
the untriggered state), the device exhibits a leakage current.

• If the forward breakover voltage (VBO) is exceeded, the SCR

“self-triggers” into the conducting state and the voltage
collapses to the normal forward volt-drop, typically 1.5-3V. The
presence of any gate current will reduce the forward breakover
voltage.
 Thyristor Conduction

How to turn off

thyristor ?
 Thyristor Conduction
• Thyristor cannot be turned off by
applying negative gate current.
current It can
only be turned off if IA goes negative
(reverse)
– This happens when negative portion of
the of sine-wave occurs (natural
commutation).

• Another method of turning off is known

as “forced commutation”,
– The anode current is “diverted” to
 Controllable switches (power
transistors)
• Can be turned “ON”and “OFF” by relatively very small
control signals.

• Operated in SATURATION and CUTOFF modes only. only No

“linear region” operation is allowed due to excessive
power loss.

• In general, power transistors do not operate in

latched mode.
mode

• Traditional devices: Bipolar junction transistors (BJT),

Metal oxide silicon field effect transistor ( MOSFET),
Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), Gate turn-off
thyristors (GTO)
 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)

• Ratings: Voltage: VCE<1000, Current: IC<400A.

Switching frequency up to 5kHz. Low on-state
voltage: VCE(sat) : 2-3V.
• Low current gain (β). Need high base current to
obtain reasonable IC . (Current driven).
Expensive and complex base drive circuit.
• Not popular in new products.
products
 BJT Conduction
• The level of IB in the active region just before saturation
must be I
I Bmax > c sat

βdc

• At saturation, the current IC is quite high and the voltage

VCE very low. The resistance across the terminals
determined by R
V
= CE sat
sat
I C sat

Saturation conditions and Cutoff conditions and

the resulting terminal resistance the resulting terminal resistance
Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor
(MOSFET)

• Ratings: Voltage VDS<500V, current IDS<300A.

(Voltage driven)
• Very fast device: >100KHz. For some low power
devices (few hundred watts) may go up to MHz
range.
 MOSFET characteristics
• Turning on and off is very simple.
simple Only need to
provide VGS =+15V to turn on and 0V to turn off.
Gate drive circuit is simple.
• Basically low voltage device. High voltage device
are available up to 600V but with limited current.
current
Can be paralleled quite easily for higher current
capability.

• Internal (dynamic) resistance between drain and

source during on state, RDS(ON), limits the power
handling capability of MOSFET.
MOSFET High losses
especially for high voltage device due to RDS(ON) .

• Dominant in high frequency application

(>100kHz). Biggest application is in switched-
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
(IGBT)

• Combination of BJT and MOSFET characteristics.

Compromises include:
– Gate behaviour similar to MOSFET - easy to turn
on and off.
– Low losses like BJT due to low on-state
Collector-Emitter voltage (2-3V).
 Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
(IGBT)
• Ratings: Voltage: V <3.3kV, Current,: I <1.2kA
CE C
currently available. Work in under progress for
4.5kV/1.2kA device. Constant improvement in
voltage and current ratings.

• Good switching capability (up to 100KHz) for

newer devices. Typical application, IGBT is used
at 20-50KHz.

• For very high power devices and applications,

frequency is limited to several KHz.

• Very popular in new products; practically

replacing BJT in most new applications.

• “Snubberless” operation is possible. Most new

Gate turn-off thyristor (GTO)

• Behave like normal thyristor, but can be turned

off using gate signal

• However turning off is difficult.

difficult Need very large
reverse gate current (normally 1/5 of anode
current)
 Gate turn-off thyristor (GTO)
• Ratings: Voltage: Vak<5kV; Current: Ia<5kA. Highest
power ratings switch. Frequency<5KHz.

• Gate drive design is very difficult.

difficult Need very large
reverse gate current to turn off. Often custom-
tailored to specific application.

• Currently getting very stiff competition from high

power IGBT.
IGBT The latter has much simpler and
cheaper drivers.

• GTO normally requires snubbers. High power

snubbers are expensive.

• In very high power region (>5kV, >5kA),

development in gate-controlled thyristor (GCT) may
 Switches comparisons
(2000)
Device Type Year made Rated Voltage Rated Current Switching Frequency Rated Power Drive Circuit Comments

SCR 1957 6kV 3.5kA 500Hz 100s MW Simple Cannot turn-off using gate signal

GTO 1962 4.5kV 3kA 2kHz 10s MW Very Difficult King in very high power

BJT 1960s 1.2kV 400A 5kHz 1 MW Difficult Phasing out in new product

Good performance in high

MOSFET 1976 500V 200A 1MHz 100 kW Very Simple
frequency

IGBT 1983 3.3kV 1.2kA 100kHz 100s kW Very Simple Best overall performance
 Application examples
• For each of the following application, choose the
best power switches and reason out why.

3. An inverter for the light-rail train (LRT) locomotive

operating from a DC supply of 750 V. The locomotive is
rated at 150 kW. The induction motor is to run from
standstill up to 200 Hz, with power switches frequencies
up to 10KHz.

5. A switch-mode power supply (SMPS) for remote

telecommunication equipment is to be developed. The
input voltage is obtained from a photovoltaic array that
produces a maximum output voltage of 100 V and a
minimum current of 200 A. The switching frequency
should be higher than 100kHz.

7. A HVDC transmission system transmitting power of 300

MW from one ac system to another ac system both
operating at 50 Hz, 230 kV rms line to line and the DC link
Questions?????