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
perfo
The opportunities in the field of power electronics are plenty! With the
human nature seeking for perfection in engineering perfo
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