BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

ELECTROMECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MSc)

Power Electronics Advanced Power Electronics and Its Application

Applications of Power Electronic Convertors

Prepared by

1. ELIAS TEGEGNE (IDNO. BDU1401918)

2. HABTAMU AMANU (IDNO. BDU1401923)

3. HUNEGNAW ABEBE (IDNO. BDU1401924)

Submitted to: TEKETAY M. (PhD)

Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

July, 2022
Contents
1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1
1.1 Power Electronics convertors............................................................................................3
2 Power Electronics Convertors For Renewable Energy And Energy Storage...............................4
2.1 Power Electronics for Photovoltaic Power Systems..............................................................5
2.2 Wind turbine system..............................................................................................................7
2.3 Energy Storage.......................................................................................................................9
3. Industrial applications................................................................................................................10
Dual Converter...........................................................................................................................10
DC-DC Converters.....................................................................................................................11
Inverters.....................................................................................................................................11
AC-AC Converters.....................................................................................................................12
Cycloconverters.........................................................................................................................12
4. Electric vehicles and transportation...........................................................................................12
 1. INTRODUCTION
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 for user loads. In terms of their
functionality, power electronics circuits can be divided into two main groups: contactless
switches and converters. To the first group belong all modern protection and reconfiguration
devices, such as static current limiters, static current breakers, and static transfer switches.
Application of contactless switches, when compared to contactors, can be characterized by many
advantages and especially by very short operating time, high permitted frequency of switch-
overs, long lifetime and lack of electric arc while switching them off. This group is less
numerous and is not considered further below. The second, more numerous group, PE circuits,
applies to conversion of the form AC into DC and inversely as well as electrical energy
parameters (value of voltage/electric current, frequency, number of phases, reactive power etc.).
The group can be further divided into basic types of PE converters. AC/AC converters can be
realized as single-stage (AC regulators, direct frequency converters) or two-stage through DC
link. Similarly, DC/DC converters can be realized. However, rectifiers and inverters are
characterized by only a single-stage energy conversion.

Figure.1 power electronics circuits as converters and switches

As the voltage and current ratings and switching characteristics of power semiconductor devices
keep improving, the range of applications is increasing. From household to industries almost all
new electrical or electromechanical equipment contain power electronic systems. In areas such
as lamp controls, power supplies to motion control, factory automation, transportation, energy
storage, multimegawatt industrial drives, and electric power transmission and distribution.

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Power electronics as an area of electrical engineering studies continues to develop intensively.
Often, such development is described as a “quiet revolution”. Utilized in all areas of application
of electrical energy, modern PE is a research field of interdisciplinary character. It is referred to
as industrial electronics, and combines multiple diverse technological disciplines.

Figure.2 Interdisciplinary nature of power electronics

Advantages of power electronics

 High efficiency due to low loss in power semiconductor devices

 High reliability of power electronic convertor systems
 Long life and less maintenance due to the absence of any moving parts
 Fast dynamic response of the power electronic system as compared to electromechanical
convertor systems.
 Small size and less weight result in less floor space and therefore lower installation cost.
 Mass production of power semiconductor devices has resulted in lower cost of the
convertor equipment.

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 Figure.3 Power Electronic devices application

1.1 Power Electronics convertors

Power electronic converter is a converter that cans conversion of electric power from one to
another. A power electronic circuit might be asked to transfer energy between two different dc
voltage levels, between an AC source and a DC load, or between sources at different frequencies.
It might be used to adjust an output voltage or power level, drive a nonlinear load, or control a
load current .The energy flow must balance over time such that the energy drawn from the
source matches that delivered to the load. The converter in Fig. 1.8 serves as an example of how
the method of energy balance can be used to analyze circuit operation.

Power electronic converters are a family of electrical circuits which convert electrical energy
from one level of voltage/current/frequency to another using semiconductor based electronic
switches. The essential characteristic of these types of circuits is that the switches are operated
only in one of two states - either fully ON or fully OFF - unlike other types of electrical circuits
where the control elements are operated in a (near) linear active region. The process of switching
the electronic devices in a power electronic converter from one state to another is called
modulation.

The power semiconductor devices or power electronic converters are generally categories as:

 AC to DC Converter (Controlled Rectifier)

 DC to DC Converter (DC Chopper)
 AC to AC Converter (AC voltage regulator)
 DC to AC Converter (Inverter)

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 Table1. Types of Power Electronics convertors

2 Power Electronics Convertors For Renewable Energy And Energy Storage

There are many renewable energy sources such as biomass, solar, wind, mini-hydro, and tidal
power. However, solar and wind energy systems make use of advanced power electronics
technologies. A hybrid system can consist of solar panels, wind power, fuel
cells, electrolyzes, batteries, capacitors, and other types of power devices. Hybrid systems can be
setup with power electronics to handle low, high, and variable power requirements. For example,
solar panels can be used to convert solar energy into electrical energy when sunlight is directly
hitting the PV panels for maximum efficiency, and then power from wind turbines can be used
when wind speed and direction is ideal. The energy from these devices can be stored in batteries
and used for electrolysis to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be fed to fuel cells to
provide power for long periods of time or portable or transportation applications. Power
electronics provides a key element in stabilizing, boosting and managing the power when
necessary

The electrical output of a specific power system may not provide the input needed for a certain
device. Many applications, such as grid or residential power, require AC power. Other devices
such as cell phones require DC power. The output of fuel cells and batteries, however, is DC
voltage with an intensity that depends on the number of cells stacked in series. An inverter can
be used to change the output from DC to AC power when needed. Also, many renewable energy
systems can have slow startup times and can be slow to respond to higher power needs.
Therefore, systems usually have to be designed to compensate for high or intermittent power
requirements. Power converters can be used to regulate the amount of power flowing through a
circuit. Figure 1 shows a general schematic with a fuel cell that illustrates the power electronics
component as a key element in the fuel cell system.

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There are many renewable energy sources such as biomass, solar, wind, minihydro, and tidal
power. However, solar and wind energy systems make use of advanced power electronics
technologies.

2.1 Power Electronics for Photovoltaic Power Systems

The technology of photovoltaics (PV) is essentially concerned with the conversion of this energy
into usable electrical form. The basic element of a PV system is the solar cell. Solar cells can
convert the energy of sunlight directly into electricity. Consumer appliances used to provide
services such as lighting, water pumping, refrigeration, telecommunications, and television can
be run from photovoltaic electricity. Solar cells rely on a quantum-mechanical process known as
the ‘‘photovoltaic effect’’ to produce electricity.

Figure.4 Solar cell Principle of the operation

Photovoltaic power systems can be classified as Stand-alone, Hybrid and Grid connected

 Stand-alone: the two main stand-alone PV applications are Battery charging and solar
water pumping.

Figure.5 Stand-alone PV system

The battery storage in a PV system should be properly controlled to avoid catastrophic operating
conditions like overcharging or frequent deep discharging.

Three types of charge controllers commonly used are Series charge regulators, Shunt charge
regulators and Dc–dc Converters.

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In the series charge controller, the switch S1 disconnects the PV generator when a predefined
battery voltage is achieved. When the voltage falls below the discharge limit, the load is
disconnected from the battery to avoid deep discharge beyond the limit.

In Shunt Charge Regulators when the battery is fully charged the PV generator is short-circuited
using an electronic switch (S1). Unlike series controllers, this method works more efficiently

Figure.6 Series charge regulators and Shunt charge regulators

Dc–dc Converter Type Charge Regulators Switch mode dc-to-dc converters are used to match
the output of a PV generator to a variable load. The dc–dc converters allow the charge current to
be reduced continuously in such a way that the resulting battery voltage is maintained at a
specified value. The types of dc– dc converters are Buck (step-down) converter, Boost (step-up)
converter and Buck-boost (step-down=up) converter.

Figure.7 Buck (step-down) , Boost (step-up) and Buck-boost (step-down=up) converters

Inverters for Stand-Alone PV Systems

Inverters convert power from dc to ac, while rectifiers convert it from ac to dc. Many inverters
are bi-directional, i.e., they are able to operate in both inverting and rectifying modes. In many
stand-alone photovoltaic installations, alternating current is needed to operate 230 V (or 110 V),

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50 Hz (or 60 Hz) appliances. Generally stand-alone inverters operate at 12, 24, 48, 96, 120, or
240 V dc, depending on the power level.

Figure.8 Bidirectional inverter system

Solar Water Pumping

There are mainly three types of solar powered water pumping system dc motors and ac motors.
Dc motors are preferred where direct coupling to photovoltaic panels is desired, whereas ac
motors are coupled to the solar panels through inverters. Ac motors in general are cheaper than
dc motors and are more reliable, but dc motors are more efficient. The dc motors used for solar
pumping applications are permanent-magnet dc motors with or without brushes.

2.2 Wind turbine system

The components of a wind turbine system are turbine rotor, a gearbox, a generator, a power
electronic system, and a transformer for grid connection. Wind turbines capture the power from
wind by means of turbine blades and convert it to mechanical power. It is important to be able to
control and limit the converted mechanical power during higher wind speeds. The power
limitation may be done either by stall control, active stall, or pitch control whose power curves .
It can be seen that the power may be smoothly limited by rotating the blades either by pitch or
active stall control while the power from a stall-controlled turbine shows a small overshoot and a

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lower power output for higher wind speed. The common way to convert the low-speed, high-
torque mechanical power to electrical power is using a gearbox and a generator with standard
speed. The gearbox adapts the low speed of the turbine rotor to the high speed of the generator,
though the gearbox may not be necessary for multipole generator systems. The generator
converts the mechanical power into electrical power, which being fed into a grid possibly
through power electronic converters, and a transformer with circuit breakers and electricity
meters. The two most common types of electrical machines used in wind turbines are induction
generators and synchronous generators.

Figure.9. Components of a wind turbine system.

Many possible technical solutions of wind turbine electrical systems are related to power
electronics, since they can improve dynamic and steady-state performances, help to control the
wind turbine generator, and decouple the generator from the electrical grid.

Power electronic converter consisting of IGBTs and other types of power electronics
converters also exist, including the multilevel converters, and the matrix converter,. Particularly,
the multilevel converters are more fascinating in such applications due to the voltage level of the
converters and the decrease of the harmonics, and accordingly, the size of the output filters. The
matrix converter is technically more complicated.

Some major power electronic applications are

I. Soft-Starter for Fixed-Speed Wind Turbines

II. Power Electronics for Variable-Speed Wind Turbines
III. Wind Turbine Systems With Full Rated Power Electronic Converters

A full scale power converter, between the generator and grid, gives the added technical
performance. Generally, a back-to-back voltage source converter (VSC) is used in order to
achieve full control of the active and reactive power, though with synchronous generators,
diode rectifiers may be used [12], [16], [17], but in this case, the whole system is not a fully

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 controlled. Since the generator is decoupled from the grid, the generator can operate at a
wide variable frequency range for optimal operation while the generated active power will be
sent to the grid through the grid-side converter that can be used for controlling the active and
reactive power independently and the dynamic response may be improved. The following
figures are showing the three possible solutions with full-scale power converters. All three
solutions have almost the same controllable characteristics since the generator is decoupled
from the grid by a dc link. The grid-side converter enables the system to control active and
reactive power very fast.

Figure.10 Induction, Synchronous Generator with Gearbox and Multipole Synchronous

Generator without Gearbox Respectively.

2.3 Energy Storage

Different sources for renewable-energy production are currently in use and more are being
researched in order to bring them to the commercial level. All of these sources can deliver
electrical power but at different voltage levels, ranging from a few volts to kilo or mega volts,
and either of the AC or DC type. Since some renewable-energy sources are intermittent, such as
when the sun shines or the wind blows, an intermediate is needed to store the energy when there
is too much energy in the power system.

A wide variety of storage systems are available for storing excess energy, for example batteries
(many different chemical compositions), pumped hydro, flywheel, compressed-air energy
storage and some emerging technologies at various stages: hydrogen systems (electrolyzed and
fuel-cell), superconducting magnetic-energy storage and electrochemical capacitors. For the
storage systems, as was the case for the sources of renewable energy, the input and output
voltages range from a few volts to kilo or mega volts. Therefore, an interface between energy
generation and storage is needed. Since the interface needs to be used to both store and retrieve
the power, it needs to be highly efficient.

BESS plays a key

role in the efforts to combine a sustainable energy source
with a reliable dispatched load and mitigates the impacts
of the intermittent sources
BESS plays a key

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role in the efforts to combine a sustainable energy source
with a reliable dispatched load and mitigates the impacts
of the intermittent sources
BESS plays a key
role in the efforts to combine a sustainable energy source
with a reliable dispatched load and mitigates the impacts
of the intermittent sources
BESS plays a key role in the efforts to combine a sustainable energy source with a reliable
dispatched load and mitigates the impacts of the intermittent sources. The conventional way of
interconnecting an energystorage system (ESS) to a renewable-energy source could be through a
DC bus, as shown in Fig. 1, where a positive terminal and a negative terminal of a bidirectional
DC–DC converter are connected to the ESS while the other positive and negative terminals of
the DC–DC converter are connected to the regulated DC bus.

Figure.11 DC–DC converter system for Energy Storage system

3. Industrial applications

Power electronics have been fully introduced in industry, in applications such as power supplies,
converters, inverters, battery chargers, temperature control, variable speed motors, by studying
the effects and the adaptation of electronic power systems to industrial processes. It is becoming
very common to generate electrical energy in different ways and convert it into another form in
order to be able to use it—for instance, renewable sources, battery banks, and the transmission of
electric power in direct current (DC), which makes the voltage of the network available in
different levels, in detriment to the supplied voltage from the grid.

Almost all the motors employed in the industries are controlled by power electronic drives, for
e.g. Rolling mills, textile mills, cement mills, compressors, pumps, fans, blowers, elevators,
rotary kilns etc. Other applications include welding, arc furnace, cranes, heating applications,
emergency power systems, construction machinery, excavators etc.

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Dual Converter
Dual converter is a combination of a rectifier and inverter in which the conversion of A.C to D.C
happens and followed by D.C to A.C where load lies in between. A dual converter can be of a
single phase or a three phase. A dual converter consists of two bridges consisting of thyristors in
which one for rectifying purpose where alternating current is converted to direct current which
can be given to load. Other bridge of thyristors is used for converting D.C to A.C. The
applications of Dual Converters are Speed control and direction control in dc motors.

Figure.12 Dual Converter

DC-DC Converters
Step-down choppers find most of their applications in highperformance dc drive systems, for
example, electric traction, electric vehicles, and machine.

Figure.12 Step-down choppers

Inverters
The main objective of static power converters is to produce an ac output waveform from a dc
power supply. These are the types of waveforms required in adjustable speed drives (ASDs),

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uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), static var compensators, active filters, flexible ac
transmission systems (FACTS), and voltage compensators.

Figure.13 Electrical Power Conversion Topology

AC-AC Converters
AC voltage controllers are used either for control of the rms value of voltage or current in
lighting control, domestic and industrial heating, speed control of fan, pump or hoist drives, soft
starting of induction motors, so forth, or as static ac switches (on=off control) in transformer tap
changing, temperature control, speed stabilization of high inertia induction motor drives such as
centrifuge, capacitor switching in static reactive power compensation, and so forth.

Figure.14 Full Wave with Two SCRs and Two Diodes

Cycloconverters
Cycloconverters as frequency changers essentially find wellestablished applications in high-
power low-speed reversible ac motor drives with constant frequency input; and constant
frequency power supplies with a variable frequency input as in the VSCF (variable-speed
constant frequency) system. They also find potential applications in controllable VAR generators
for power factor correction; and ac system interties linking two independent power systems.

4. Electric vehicles and transportation

Electric vehicles, trolley, fork-lifts, and many transportation have so many components where
power electronic is used such as ignition switch, windshield wiper control, adaptive front

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lighting, interior lighting, electric power steering and so on. Besides power electronics are
extensively used in modern traction systems and ships.

Power electronics converters play a very important role in an efficient conversion of power as
per the ratings of the original power source and the ratings of the equipment used. The integrated
switching and fusing functions into a single component with increased reliability and power
convertors can be used for different control methods. The conversion of power is realized by
using adjustable speed drives. The conversion of voltage as per the demand of the application
can be efficiently realized by using power electronics. The different components used in the
power electronics of an electric vehicle are rectifiers, inverters dc-dc converters etc.

The dc-dc power converters are used to condition the level of the voltage and to deliver a stable
dc bus voltage. The input DC voltage is converted to a regulated output DC voltage. This process
of conversion is highly efficient with an efficiency percentage of almost 90 %.. These converters
operate at high frequencies of the order of 10 kHz - 1MHz. The high frequency ensures that size
of the hardware components involved in the converter is small which in turn helps in the EV
applications. The various types of types of DC-DC convertors which are not isolated are: Buck
converter and Bidirectional converters.

Figure.15 Power train diagram of Electric Vehicle

As shown from the above diagram, the source AC voltage (230V) is rectified to DC using a
rectifier. The rms value of the rectified DC voltage is 320 V (i.e. √2 * 230). This voltage is
reduced to 60 V using a buck converter. Further, the 60 V is reduced to 48 V which is the rating
of the battery. This is the procedure of the charging the battery. The 48V battery drives the 60 V
using the bidirectional converter which now acts like a boost converter.

I. Buck Converter

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 The buck converter produces a pure DC voltage which is less than the input voltage in
magnitude. To accomplish this action, the converter uses a combination of inductor-capacitor
(LC) low pass filter. This low-pass filter is assumed to be ideal. The function of the buck
converter is to provide an output voltage less than that of input voltage. The values of output
current and voltage in the inductor is obtained for the switch open and switch closed states. In the
steady state condition, the gross change for the current in the inductor is zero for a period. The
average value of the voltage across the inductor is zero.

II. Bidirectional Converter

The bidirectional converter consists of two MOSFET switches i.e. the switch1 operates the
voltage source to the battery whereas as switch2 operates the motor through the battery. It is
known as bidirectional converter. In this operation when the switch1 is turned ON the buck mode
will operate and supplies the voltage from source to battery whereas switch2 is turned ON the
boost mode will operate and supplies the voltage from battery to the motor to run the wheels by
keeping the power as constant throughout the circuit. The resultant of the voltage obtained from
the buck converter is applied to the bidirectional converter which will charge the battery in the
buck action. Consequently, the battery powers the motor in the boost action of the bidirectional
converter and thereby discharges itself.

 BATTERY CHARGING MODE

In the battery charging mode, the bidirectional act as buck operation which is operated in two
modes i.e. switch1 is ON mode whereas switch2 is OFF mode. The energy from the primary
source of power is stored in the inductor in the form of magnetic field. This cycle repeats when
switch2 is ON position. Hence the inductor receives energy from the primary source when the
switch is ON.

 BATTERY DISCHARGE MODE

In this mode, the bidirectional act as boost operation by closing the switch2 and by opening
switch1. In this operation the bidirectional will boost up the voltage from battery to the motor to
run the wheels. The average current through the inductor in this mode is zero.

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