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Power electronics is the application of electronics to the control and conversion of electric power. The first high-power electronic devices were made using mercury-arc valves . In modern systems, the conversion is performed with semiconductor switching devices such as diodes , thyristors , and power transistors such as the power MOSFET and IGBT .
Power MOSFETs are commonly used in automotive electronics, particularly as switching devices in electronic control units, [93] and as power converters in modern electric vehicles. [94] The insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), a hybrid MOS-bipolar transistor, is also used for a wide variety of applications.
NXP 7030AL - N-channel TrenchMOS logic level FET IRF640 Power Mosfet die. The power MOSFET is the most widely used power semiconductor device in the world. [3] As of 2010, the power MOSFET accounts for 53% of the power transistor market, ahead of the insulated-gate bipolar transistor (27%), RF power amplifier (11%) and bipolar junction transistor (9%). [24]
An example of this new device from ABB shows how this device improves on GTO technology for switching high voltage and high current in power electronics applications. According to ABB, the IGCT devices are capable of switching in excess of 5000 VAC and 5000 A at very high frequencies, something not possible to do efficiently with GTO devices. [22]
The IGBT accounts for 27% of the power transistor market, second only to the power MOSFET (53%), and ahead of the RF amplifier (11%) and bipolar junction transistor (9%). [35] The IGBT is widely used in consumer electronics, industrial technology, the energy sector, aerospace electronic devices, and transportation.
Operating at high frequency and supplying low power, power converters have much smaller transformers compared with those of fundamental-frequency, high-power applications. The current in the primary winding of a transformer help to sets up the mutual flux in accordance with Ampere's law and balances the demagnetizing effect of the load current ...
Power inverters are primarily used in electrical power applications where high currents and voltages are present; circuits that perform the same function for electronic signals, which usually have very low currents and voltages, are called oscillators.
Power Engineering deals with the generation, transmission, distribution and utilization of electricity as well as the design of a range of related devices. These include transformers, electric generators, electric motors and power electronics. Power engineers may also work on systems that do not connect to the grid.