Power electronics is a subfield of electronics engineering that deals with the manipulation, control and conversion of electric current by solid state components like transistors, diodes, integrated circuits, LEDs and so on.
As explained in the earlier tutorial. current is controlled or converted from one form to another by means of electronic components. For example conversion of AC to DC, DC to AC, stepping down of DC and so on. A typical example of a power electronics device is a cellphone charger, it converts AC into DC then regulates the DC into 5V with a stable supply of current ranging from 500mA to 10A.
Power electronics only deals with convertion, regulation and control of electricity in contrast to electronic circuits that deals with the generation, convertion and receiving of radio communications and data.
Power electronics components.
Solid State electronic components are use to switch, regulate, filter and amplify electricity in power circuits examples are listed below.
1. Diodes.
They allow current to flow through them in only one direction i.e current flows through them with zero ohms when in the forward bias and blocks current completely with an infinite resistances no matter how much the current or voltage applied. Therefore it acts as a solid State switch which blocks current or allow current to flow depending on it polarity current passes through.
2. Transistors.
They are use for switching and amplification of electric current. Transistors are current controlled components, they are use as switches because they operates either in fully on mode or fully of mode.
3. Integrated circuits.
They are combination of milions of components like transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes into a single silicon wafer covered with an insulating material like plastic and ceramics. Integrated circuits also known as ICs are usually connected with other discrete components to perform operations like amplification of signals, switching, timing and delays etc.
4. Inductors
They are components that stores current in form of magnetic field. Their property is use in power electronics for regulating current, avoiding voltage saturations, avoiding short circuits and coupled with capacitors to form a tuning circuit. Inductors can be find mostly in all power conversion circuits like power banks, adapters, TV power supply circuits and desktop computers power supply boards also know as power packs.
4. Resistors.
They are use for resisting the flow of current. They do have a fixed resistance value while some also have a variable resistance. Resistors are very common that they can be found on almost all circuit boards.
5. Capacitors.
They are components that stores charges on their plates separated by insulators. Capacitors are very useful in power electronics for regulation, filtering and reduction of sparks across transformers. In the next chapters we're going to learn about MOSFETs, TRIACs, thyristors, BJTs, IGFETs and other switching components.
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Power Electronics