Power Converter Design Course

Lesson 1 • Power Semiconductor Devices Overview

Covers diodes, MOSFETs, IGBTs, and thyristors with their static and dynamic characteristics. Establishes device selection criteria used throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Power Loss and Efficiency Basics

Quantifies conduction and switching losses in semiconductor devices and passives. Establishes efficiency metrics used to evaluate converter designs.

Lesson 3 • Passive Components in Power Circuits

Examines inductors, capacitors, and transformers under high-frequency switching conditions. Highlights parasitics that affect converter performance.

Lesson 4 • Circuit Laws Applied to Converters

Applies Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws to switching circuits. Provides the analytical framework for all converter topologies studied later.

Lesson 1 • Boost and Buck-Boost Converters

Analyses step-up and inverting topologies using volt-second and charge balance methods. Extends converter analysis skills to non-unity and negative conversion ratios.

Lesson 2 • Buck Converter Analysis

Derives voltage gain, inductor current waveforms, and output ripple for the buck converter. Serves as the reference topology for understanding all step-down designs.

Lesson 3 • Isolated Flyback and Forward Converters

Introduces galvanic isolation using transformer-coupled topologies. Covers turns ratio selection, reset mechanisms, and leakage energy management.

Lesson 4 • Full-Bridge and Half-Bridge Topologies

Examines high-power isolated converters with four-switch and two-switch bridge configurations. Addresses phase-shift modulation and transformer utilisation.

Lesson 1 • Bridgeless and Totem-Pole PFC

Introduces advanced PFC topologies that eliminate the input bridge rectifier to reduce conduction losses. Builds on boost PFC fundamentals with GaN device integration.

Lesson 2 • Three-Phase Active Front-End Rectifiers

Extends PFC concepts to three-phase systems using voltage-source converter front ends. Enables bidirectional power flow and reactive power compensation.

Lesson 3 • Power Factor and Harmonic Distortion

Defines displacement power factor, distortion power factor, and total harmonic distortion. Connects these metrics to regulatory harmonic emission limits.

Lesson 4 • Uncontrolled Rectifier Circuits

Analyses single-phase and three-phase diode bridge rectifiers and their output waveforms. Establishes the baseline for understanding PFC improvement techniques.

Lesson 1 • Multilevel Inverter Architectures

Introduces neutral-point-clamped, flying-capacitor, and cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters. Reduces dv/dt stress and harmonic content at high power levels.

Lesson 2 • Output Filter Design for Inverters

Designs L, LC, and LCL filters to attenuate switching harmonics at the inverter output. Connects filter design to grid interconnection and motor drive requirements.

Lesson 3 • Space Vector Modulation Techniques

Implements space vector PWM to maximise DC bus utilisation and reduce harmonic distortion. Builds on three-phase inverter switching states from the previous section.

Lesson 4 • Single-Phase Inverter Topologies

Analyses half-bridge and full-bridge single-phase inverters and their output voltage waveforms. Provides the building block for three-phase inverter design.

Lesson 1 • Bode Plot Analysis and Stability Margins

Constructs Bode plots of converter transfer functions and evaluates gain and phase margins. Establishes stability criteria applied in compensator design.

Lesson 2 • Small-Signal Transfer Functions

Extracts control-to-output and line-to-output transfer functions from averaged models. These functions directly drive compensator design in the next chapter.

Lesson 3 • State-Space Averaging Method

Derives averaged state-space models by combining on-state and off-state circuit equations. Provides the mathematical foundation for all small-signal transfer functions.

Lesson 4 • Discrete-Time Modelling for Digital Control

Extends continuous-time models to the discrete domain for digital controller implementation. Addresses sampling delay and computational delay effects on stability.

Lesson 1 • Type I, II, and III Compensators

Designs proportional, PI, and PID-based compensators using pole-zero placement on Bode plots. Achieves specified phase margin and crossover frequency targets.

Lesson 2 • Load Transient and Line Regulation Testing

Validates compensator designs through load step and input voltage step tests. Connects simulation predictions to bench measurement techniques.

Lesson 3 • Digital PID Controller Implementation

Translates analog compensator designs into digital PID algorithms for microcontroller execution. Covers fixed-point arithmetic, anti-windup, and sampling rate selection.

Lesson 4 • Voltage-Mode Control Architecture

Implements single-loop voltage feedback using a PWM comparator and error amplifier. Establishes the baseline control structure for compensator design.

Lesson 1 • Gate Drive Circuit Design

Designs gate drive circuits that control switching speed and prevent shoot-through in bridge configurations. Directly impacts switching losses and EMI generation.

Lesson 2 • EMI Sources and Conducted Emissions

Identifies common-mode and differential-mode noise sources generated by switching converters. Provides the basis for EMI filter design in the following section.

Lesson 3 • EMI Filter Design and Layout

Designs LC-based EMI filters to attenuate conducted emissions to acceptable levels. Covers PCB layout practices that minimise filter bypass through parasitic paths.

Lesson 4 • Radiated Emissions and Shielding

Addresses radiated EMI from high dv/dt switching nodes and high-frequency magnetic fields. Applies shielding and cable routing strategies to meet radiated emission limits.

Lesson 1 • Battery Energy Storage Integration

Integrates bidirectional DC-DC converters with battery storage for energy management. Covers state-of-charge estimation and charge/discharge control strategies.

Lesson 2 • Model Predictive Control for Converters

Implements finite control set MPC to select optimal switching states based on a prediction horizon. Achieves fast dynamic response without a modulator stage.

Lesson 3 • Grid-Tied Inverter Control

Designs current-controlled grid-tied inverters using synchronous reference frame and PLL techniques. Enables active and reactive power injection into the utility grid.

Lesson 4 • Droop Control in DC and AC Microgrids

Implements droop-based power sharing among parallel converters without communication links. Enables autonomous load sharing in islanded microgrid operation.