
Part B
Power Electronics and
Motor Drives
No other technology has brought a greater change in the electrical power industry,
while still holding the potential of bringing future improvements, than power elec-
tronics. The power electronics equipment prices have declined to about 1/10 since
the 1990s, fueling an exponential growth in their applications throughout the power
industry.
The subject of electronics is broad, covering the following ve classes of func-
tionally different electronics:
(1) Power electronics, where solid-state semiconducting devices are used
primarily as on or off switches to process and condition power—change
voltage, c