This course provides a foundation for engineers from a range of disciplines to manage the integration of power electronic components and sub-systems into their designs.  It describes the basic operation of power electronics with an emphasis on their applications.

2 lectures per week

3 laboratories per semester

None

None

80% Written exam: Online Exam, all questions compulsory

20% Set exercise: Quizzes, laboratory work assessment

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

The aims of this course are to understand the function, design, and characteristics of power electronic components and sub-systems within the wider context of mechanical, mechatronic, aerospace and electrical products and systems with considerations of energy efficiency and environmental impact.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

■ recognise the opportunities to enhance systems by incorporating power electronics within the context of energy efficiency and environmental impact;

■ calculate a range of average values of practical periodic signals (not only sine waves) and deduce power consumption in components;

■ design simple circuits using diodes, BJTs, MOSFETs, SCRs, and TRIACs to control different types of load;

■ explain the operations of traditional linear power supplies and basic switch-mode power electronic converters;

■ describe the principles of DC-to-AC conversion by a basic inverter;

■ analyse steady-state power flows and temperatures in practical systems;

■ characterise linear and switched power supplies using multimeters, power analysers, and oscilloscopes.