Power electronic converter technology

The present state of the art in DC-DC, AC-DC, DC-AC, and AC-AC converter technology is presented along with their typical areas of applications. Advances made in the last decade that are finding use in industrial, commercial, and military applications are emphasized. Soft switching, in which power device switching stresses are reduced due to circuit resonances, has dominated DC-DC power conversion and some high-performance DC-AC power conversion. In the higher voltage and higher power areas, the invention and improvements of gate turnoff thyristors (GTOs), insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), and integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCTs) have led to other unique topologies to take advantage of these devices.