Entry requirements

120 credits within Science/Technology, including basic knowledge in electric circuit theory, electronics, transform methods (spec. Fourier series) and power engineering.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• explain the static and dynamic characteristics of fundamental power semiconductor devices.
• explain the working principle of uncontrolled rectifiers and calculate the performance parameters from the average, RMS and peak values of the related circuit parameters.
• calculate harmonics in the output and input currents for rectifier operations.
• design and analyse various types of switched-mode DC converters.
• explain the control of power converters using pulse-width modulation (PWM) .
• describe the basic working principle of switch-mode inverters,
• simulate simple power electronic circuits using simulation packages like Spice or MATLAB/Simulink.
• conduct experiments with converters and compare the results with theoretical concepts and simulations..

Content

Overview of power semiconductor devices: Diodes, Thyristors, BJT, MOSFET, IGBT.

Rectifiers: Single-phase and three-phase diode rectifiers with different types of loads, Average power output, Performance parameters, Harmonic analysis.

Switch-mode DC-DC converters: Design, analysis and control of Step-down (Buck), Step-Up (Boost), Buck-Boost and Full bridge topologies, Pulse-width modulation (PWM) scheme, characteristics of controllable switches, continuous and discontinuous current mode.

Switch-mode DC-AC converters: Basic inverter concept, Sinusoidal PWM.

Instruction

Lectures and tutorials, laboratory work including simulation exercises.

Assessment

Written exam (3 credits), laboratory exercises (2 credits).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.