First Course on

Power Electronics
Module 1: Introduction

By
Ned Mohan
Professor of ECE
University of Minnesota

Reference Textbook:
First Course on Power Electronics by Ned Mohan,
www.mnpere.com

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 1

 Module 1: Introduction to Power
Electronics
Chapter 1 Power Electronics: An Enabling Technology
1-1 Introduction to Power Electronics
1-2 Applications and the Role of Power Electronics
1-3 Energy and the Environment
1-4 Need for High Efficiency and High Power Density
1-5 Structure of Power Electronics Interface
1-6 Voltage-Link Structure
1-7 Recent and Potential Advancements
References
Problems

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 2

 Role of Power Electronics
Power Electronics
Interface

Converter

Source Load
Controller

Figure 1-1 Power electronics interface between the source and the load.

The power electronics interface facilitates the transfer of power from the source to the
load by converting voltages and currents from one form to another, in which it is possible
for the source and load to reverse roles. The controller shown in Fig. 1-1 allows
management of the power transfer process in which the conversion of voltages and
currents should be achieved with as high energy-efficiency and high power density as
possible.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 3

 Powering the Information Technology

24 V (dc) 5 V (dc)

Vin Power Vo Utility

Converter
3.3 V (dc)

0.5 V (dc)
Controller Vo ,ref

(a) (b)
Figure 1-2 Regulated low-voltage dc power supplies.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 4

 Boost Converter

Battery
Cell (1.5 V) 9 V (dc)

Figure 1-3 Boost dc-dc converter needed in cell operated equipment.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 5

 Adjustable Speed Drives

Electric
Drive

Power
Processing Motor Load
fixed Unit (PPU)
form
speed /
Electric Source adjustable
form position
(utility)
Sensors

Controller measured Power

speed/ position Signal

input command
(speed / position)

Figure 1-4 Block diagram of adjustable speed drives.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 6

 Induction Heating

Power High
Electronics Frequency
Interface AC
Utility

Figure 1-5 Power electronics interface required for induction heating.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 7

 Electric Welding

Power DC
Electronics
Interface
Utility

Figure 1-6 Power electronics interface required for electric welding.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 8

 Energy and the Environment: The Percentage
Energy Consumption

Lighting 19%

IT
14%

HVAC 16% Motors 51%

Figure 1-7 Percentage use of electricity in various sectors in the U.S.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 9

 Role of adjustable speed drives in
pump-driven systems

Outlet

Adjustable
Speed Drive
(ASD)
Inlet
utility
Pump

Figure 1-8 Role of adjustable speed drives in pump-driven systems.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 10

 Compact Fluorescent Lamps

Power CFL
Electronics
Interface
Utility

Figure 1-9 Power electronics interface required for CFL.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 11

 Transportation

Figure 1-10 Hybrid electric vehicles with much higher gas mileage.

• Hybrid electric vehicles with much higher gas mileage

• light rail, fly-by-wire planes
• all-electric ships
• drive-by-wire automobiles.
© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 12
 Renewable Energy
Photovoltaic Systems

DC Input Power
Electronics
Interface

Utility
(b)

(a)
Figure 1-11 Photovoltaic Systems.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 13

 Wind-Electric Systems

Generator
and
Power Electronics
Utility

Figure 1-12 Wind-electric systems.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 14

 Uninterruptible Power Supplies

Uninterruptible
Power Supply

Utility Critical
Load

Figure 1-13 Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 15

Applications in Power
Systems

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 16

 Strategic Space and Defense Applications

More Electric Aircraft Electric Warship

Source: James Soeder, NASA and Terry Ericsen, ONR.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 17
 NEED FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY AND
HIGH POWER DENSITY
Po η
η= Po = Ploss
Po + Ploss 1 −η

500

450

400

Power Rating
350

Pin Power Po 300

Electronics Po
250
Equipment Ploss = 20 W
200

150

Ploss 100 Ploss = 10 W

50
(a )
0
0.8 0.82 0.84 0.86 0.88 0.9 0.92 0.94 0.96
Efficiency η
(b)
Figure 1-14 Power output capability as a function of efficiency.
© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 18
 Summarizing the Role of Power Electronics

Power
Electronics Output to Load
Interface
- Adjustable DC
utility - Sinusoidal AC
- High-frequency AC

Figure 1-15 Block diagram of power electronic interface.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 19

 STRUCTURE OF POWER ELECTRONICS INTERFACE

conv1 conv2
utility Load

controller

Figure 1-16 Voltage-link structure of power electronics interface.

Voltage-link structure of power electronics interface

• Unipolar voltage handling transistors used
• Decoupling of two converters
• Immunity from momentary power interruptions

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 20

 • Current-Link Systems
• Matrix Converters

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 21

 Current-Link Systems

AC1 AC2

Figure 1-17 Current-link structure of power electronics interface.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 22

 Matrix Converters

ia
va daA daB daC
vA vB vC
vb dbA dbB dbC
vc dcA dcB dcC

Figure 1-18 Matrix converter structure of power electronics interface [13].

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 23

 Voltage-link System

conv1 conv2
utility Load

controller

Figure 1-19 Load-side converter in a voltage-source structure.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 24

 SWITCH-MODE LOAD-SIDE CONVERTER

• Group 1 Adjustable dc or a low-frequency sinusoidal ac output in

- dc and ac motor drives
- uninterruptible power supplies
- regulated dc power supplies without electrical isolation

• Group 2 High-frequency ac in
- compact fluorescent lamps
- induction heating
- regulated dc power supplies where the dc output voltage needs to be
electrically isolated from the input, and the load-side converter
internally produces high-frequency ac, which is passed through a
high-frequency transformer and then rectified into dc.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 25

 Switch-Mode Conversion: Switching Power-Pole
as the Building Block

+
qA = 1
vvA
Vin A Vin
+
vA
- - 00
t
qA
(a) (b)
Figure 1-20 Switching power-pole as the building block in converters.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 26

Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) of the Switching Power-Pole
qA
1
+ idA dA
iA 0
Vin d A Ts Tup t
+ Ts
vA vA
- Vin
-
vA
q A = 1or 0 0
t
(a) (b)

Figure 1-21 PWM of the switching power-pole.

d A ( = Tup / Ts )

Tup
vA = Vin = d AVin 0 ≤ dA ≤ 1
Ts

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 27

 Switching Power-Pole in a Buck DC-DC Converter:
An Example
qA 1

iin 0
d ATs t
Ts
+ iL vA
Vin
Vin
+
vA
+
− vA Vo
0
t
iL
− −
qA 0
t
iin
(a)
0 t
(b)

Figure 1-22 Switching power-pole in a Buck converter.

Vo = v A = d AVin 0 ≤ Vo ≤ Vin
© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 28
 Example 1-2 In the converter of Fig. 1-22a, the input voltage Vin = 20V . The
output voltage Vo = 12V . Calculate the duty-ratio d A and the pulse
width Tup , if the switching frequency f s = 200 kHz .

Vo 12 1
Solution v A = Vo = 12V . Using Eq. 1-4, d A = = = 0.6 and Ts = = 5μs .
Vin 20 fs
Therefore, as shown in Fig. 1-23, Tup = d ATs = 0.6 × 5μ s = 3μ s .

1
qA
0 t
3μ s
5μ s
Vin = 20V
vA Vo = 12V
0
t
Figure 1-23 Waveforms in the converter of Example 1-2.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 29

Simulations using
PSpice

SwitchingWaveform.Sch

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 30

Simulation Results
vA
8.0V

vo  Vo
6.0V

4.0V

2.0V

0V
450us 460us 470us 480us 490us 500us
V(vA) V(vo)
Time

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 31

Fourier Analysis
FOURIER COMPONENTS OF TRANSIENT RESPONSE V(vA)

DC COMPONENT = 6.080000E+00

HARMONIC FREQUENCY FOURIER NORMALIZED PHASE

NORMALIZED
NO (HZ) COMPONENT COMPONENT (DEG) PHASE (DEG)

1 1.000E+05 3.487E+00 1.000E+00 -4.860E+01 0.000E+00

2 2.000E+05 2.543E+00 7.293E-01 -7.200E+00 9.000E+01
3 3.000E+05 1.310E+00 3.757E-01 3.420E+01 1.800E+02
4 4.000E+05 1.600E-01 4.589E-02 7.560E+01 2.700E+02
5 5.000E+05 6.012E-01 1.724E-01 -6.300E+01 1.800E+02
6 6.000E+05 8.387E-01 2.405E-01 -2.160E+01 2.700E+02
7 7.000E+05 6.193E-01 1.776E-01 1.980E+01 3.600E+02
8 8.000E+05 1.600E-01 4.589E-02 6.120E+01 4.500E+02
9 9.000E+05 2.763E-01 7.923E-02 -7.740E+01 3.600E+02
10 1.000E+06 4.924E-01 1.412E-01 -3.600E+01 4.500E+02

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 32

 FOURIER COMPONENTS OF TRANSIENT RESPONSE V(vo)

DC COMPONENT = 6.083044E+00

HARMONIC FREQUENCY FOURIER NORMALIZED PHASE

NORMALIZED
NO (HZ) COMPONENT COMPONENT (DEG) PHASE (DEG)

1 1.000E+05 1.795E-02 1.000E+00 1.343E+02 0.000E+00

2 2.000E+05 3.400E-03 1.894E-01 1.746E+02 -9.403E+01
3 3.000E+05 8.465E-04 4.715E-02 -1.489E+02 -5.518E+02
4 4.000E+05 1.226E-04 6.826E-03 -1.492E+02 -6.865E+02
5 5.000E+05 1.602E-04 8.922E-03 1.447E+02 -5.269E+02
6 6.000E+05 1.718E-04 9.570E-03 1.707E+02 -6.352E+02
7 7.000E+05 1.158E-04 6.448E-03 -1.626E+02 -1.103E+03
8 8.000E+05 5.644E-05 3.143E-03 -1.560E+02 -1.231E+03
9 9.000E+05 4.483E-05 2.497E-03 1.751E+02 -1.034E+03
10 1.000E+06 5.570E-05 3.102E-03 1.789E+02 -1.164E+03

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 33

 Currents
16A
iL iR
10A

iC
0A

-4A
450us 455us 460us 465us 470us 475us 480us 485us 490us 495us 500us
I(L) I(C) I(R)
Time

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 34

Frequency Analysis

SwitchingWaveform_AC-Analysis.Sch

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 35

Simulation Results
50

(100.000K,-45.867)

-50

-100
100Hz 1.0KHz 10KHz 100KHz 1.0MHz
DB(V(vo)/V(VA))
Frequency

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 36

 Transistor and diode forming a switching power-pole
in a Buck converter
+
iL
Vin +
− Vo
−
(a)
+ +
iL iL
Vin + Vin +
Vo Vo
− −
− −
qA = 1 qA = 0
(b) (c)
Figure 1-24 Transistor and diode forming a switching power-pole in a Buck converter.

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 37

Hardware Lab: very low-cost
Switching Power - Pole Board

Magnetics Plug - In Board

Feedback Control Plug - In Board

Experiments: USERS MANUAL

- Buck, Boost, Buck-Boost
- Feedback Control: Voltage-
Mode, Peak-Current-Mode
- Flyback, Forward
© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 www.ece.umn.edu/groups/power 38
 RECENT AND POTENTIAL ADVANCEMENTS

• Devices that can handle voltages in kVs and currents in kAs

• ASICs
• DSPs
• Micro-controllers
• FPGA
• Integrated and intelligent power modules
• Packaging
• SiC-based solid-state devices
• High energy density capacitors

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 39

 CONCEPT OF PEBB
Power Electronics Building Block (PEBB) [15] is a broad concept that
incorporates the progressive integration of power devices, gate drives,
and other components into building blocks, with clearly defined
functionality that provides interface capabilities able to serve multiple
applications. This building block approach results in reduced cost,
losses, weight, size, and engineering effort for the application and
maintenance of power electronics systems. Based on the functional
specifications of PEBB and the performance requirements of the
intended applications, the PEBB designer addresses the details of
device stresses, stray inductances, switching speed, losses, thermal
management, protection, measurements of required variables, control
interfaces, and potential integration issues at all levels.
It has numerous benefits such as technology insertion and upgrade via
standard interfaces, reduced maintenance via plug and play modules,
reduced cost via increased product development efficiency, reduced time to
market, reduced commissioning cost, reduced design and development risk,
and increased competition in critical technologies [14].
© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 40
 Summary
„ Power Electronics an Enabling
Technology
„ Applications
„ Need for High Efficiency and High Power
Density
„ Structure of Power Electronic Converters
„ Switching Power-Pole as the Building
Block
„ Potential for Advancements

© Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 41