MMME2104 Design & Selection of Mining Equipment Electrical Component

Power Electronics
Lecture 9 9 October 2003

Lecture Outline
What are power electronics Power electronics building blocks Rectifiers Converters Inverters Applications in motor drives Efficiency in power electronics

Power Electronics
The task of power electronics is to process and control the flow of electric energy by supplying voltages and currents in a form that is optimally suited to the load. Power electronics allows you to: convert from AC DC (rectifiers) convert from DC AC (inverters) convert from DC DC or AC AC (converters) control the frequency of AC supplies control the voltage and current output of AC and DC supplies

Power Electronics Building Blocks

Inductors Capacitors

Semiconductors Diodes Switches

Inductors and Capacitors

Inductor: V = L di/dt
The current in an inductor cannot change instantaneously!

Capacitor:

i = C dV/dt

The voltage across a capacitor cannot change instantaneously!

These passive components are fundamental to the operation of all power electronics.

Rectifiers (AC-DC)

The Most Basic Diode Rectifier

Full Bridge Diode Rectifier

Single-Phase Full Bridge Rectifier

Converts single-phase AC to DC: VDC = 2 VAC

e.g. 240VAC

e.g. 340VDC

Three-Phase Full Bridge Rectifier

Converts 3-phase AC to DC: VDC = 2 VAC

e.g. 415VAC

e.g. 590VDC

Example application: Brushless excitation in synchronous machines

Three-Phase Full Bridge Rectifier

Input

Output

DC-DC Converters

The Most Basic DC-DC Converter

This switching technique is known as pulse-width modulation (PWM) The duty ratio D = ton/Ts

Step-Down (Buck) Converter

Converts DC to a lower DC voltage: Vo = DVd

Example application: field control in DC motors

Step-Down (Buck) Converter

Step-Up (Boost) Converter

Converts DC to higher voltage DC: Vo = Vd/(1-D)

There are also buck-boost DC-DC converters, which convert to higher and lower voltages

Full-Bridge DC-DC Converter

Provides bi-directional DC-DC power flow

Application: 4-quadrant control of DC motors

Inverters (DC-AC)

Single-Phase Full-Bridge Inverter

Converts DC to single-phase AC Same topology as DC-DC full bridge

Single-Phase Full-Bridge Inverter

Switching frequency

Control signals
Carrier frequency

= filtered output

Output

Three-Phase Full-Bridge Inverter

Converts DC to 3-phase AC

Example application: AC motor drives

Variable Speed AC Drive

E.g. VVVF control of induction motor

415V 3-phase supply 3-phase rectifier

600V DC link

3-phase inverter

AC motor

AC-AC Conversion via Power Electronics

Instead of using a transformer: AC-AC conversion can be performed indirectly via a DC link (as per previous slide). AC-AC conversion can also be achieved directly with a matrix converter topology (beyond the scope of this course)

Semiconductor Devices
Diodes Thyristors Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) Gate Turn Off Thyristors (GTOs) Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) MOS-Controlled Thyristors (MCTs)

Semiconductor Devices

Losses in Power Electronics

In semiconductor components: Switching losses Conduction losses In passive components (C & L): Effective series resistance (ESR) Power electronics are normally designed as efficient as practical for two reasons: Cost of wasted energy Difficulty in heat removal Typical efficiencies are in the range of 90-99% for each conversion stage, depending on the exact converter topology.

Reference
N. Mohan, T. Undeland & W. Robbins (1995) Power Electronics: Converters, Applications and Design, 2nd Edition, Wiley, New York.