It’s been quite a few years since the last time I updated this page. Since then, in addition to what was written in the lines below, there has been major changes in the power electronics world... If 15 years ago, I wrote that the world has more than 100 GW or more installed solar power conversion systems and all employed power electronics, and even more for the wind, nobody would believe it... And even more, the electric vehicles were somewhat a far future technology. Today all is real... So, as all of you know Elon Musk, Tesla cars, the off-shore wind farms of several hundred megawatts, there is not much needed to get you excited... And as the world has become more connected via the internet, now there is more reachable information with improved search engines, to help you with just a bit of surfing to take you to more information than you ever expected! Enjoy! The lines below should give you some perspective if you are totally new to the field...

 

A FEW WORDS ON POWER ELECTRONICS...

Do you know that more than 50% of the electrical energy passes through power electronic devices?
As time goes by and the quality of energy management increases, this rate will reach nearly 100%.
Electrical energy, from the point it is generated to the final point of consumption is intelligently shaped via power electronic devices for better efficiency, higher reliability, and better quality of work. As a result, we have lower electric bills, less power disturbances/interrruptions, and higher precision engineering products.  Thus, power electronics is an enabling field of electrical engineering.

Similar to the microchips that achieve great jobs with semiconductors in micro and nano dimensions, power electronics is also using very small semiconductor devices that greatly control the energy.  Diameters in less then cm scale and thickness in mm scale are good enough for a power semiconductor device to control hundreds of volts and hundreds of amperes (and hence thousands of watts). So, we call our field of work POWER ELECTRONICS...

Power electronics is crossdisciplinary. It does not only utilize the small power semiconductors, but it also takes advantage of the micro and nanoscale semiconductors to orchestrate the energy flow in the energy system. Modern microchips such as DSPs, FPGAs, VHDL devices, microcontrollers etc. are utilized to program modern control techniques that yield the best energy system performance.  Thus, power electronics involves micro and macro (in terms of power ratings, not necessarily physical size) electronics.

The opportunities in the field of power electronics are plenty!  With the human nature seeking for perfection in engineering performance, energy management with power electronics will progress until the system energy efficiency reaches nearly 100%, the reliability to infinity, and performance precision to 0% tolerance... Until then, power electronics field is expected to expand at a high rate.

Research in the field of power electronics is very live today.  Presently electric power quality (where harmonics, disturbances, interruptions, electromagnetic interference are the issue) seems to be the hottest subject.  On the motion control and electric motor drives side, the quest continues for making the power electronic components invisible (as small as possible) and literally free!  On the switch mode power supply the quest continues for higher efficiency at lower and lower voltages (all the way down to 1 V or less!).  And even at 1 V level we call it power electronics, because the currents are in large ampere values, and only power electronics specialists can make such devices work!

The field of ever expanding power electronics is very exciting to the young engineers who are seeking challenges and want to be a part of this breakthrough technology...

If you are a young electrical engineering candidate, perhaps power electronics is one field that may interest you greatly!  And remember the power electronics society needs you to help us with this progress!

POWER ELECTRONICS LINKS:

IEEE-PELS (Power Electronics Society) and its conference PESC (Power Electronics Specialists Conference): PELS

IEEE-ECCE Energy Conversion Congress:
IEEE-APEC (Applied Power Electronics Conference): APEC
EPE (European Power Electronics Society and Conference):  EPE
IEEE-IAS ( Industrial Applications Society Conference): IAS
IEEE-IECON (Industrial Electronics Society and  Conference):  IES


The best visual/Interactive power electronics tutorial yet! IPES:  IPES
Interactive Power Electronics Online Course: PE-ONLINE


 

Some Power Electronics Giants of The Modern World


ABBABB
Siemens Siemens
General Electric GE-INDUSTRIAL
Rockwell Automation-Allen Bradley AB
Fuji Electric Fuji
Toshiba Electric Toshiba
Yaskawa ElectricYaskawa
Mitsubishi Electric Uc-tas
Danfoss Danfoss
Schneider Electric Schneider
Delta Delta
Eaton  Eaton


Power Semiconductor Manufacturers



Mitsubishi: Mitsubishi
Fuji: FUJI
Semikron:SEMİKRON
Infineon:INFINEON
Fairchild: Fairchild
ABB Semiconductors ABB

Rohm Rohm