Course overview
This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of how to efficiently convert and control electrical power, focusing on the characteristics of power electronic devices and their switching performance, power losses and thermal design. This enabling technology covers the classes of power converters, including rectifiers, AC-AC converters, DC-DC converters, inverters, voltage and current source converters, hard and soft-switching, resonant circuits and power supplies. The course further explores advanced energy-efficient motor drives, reviewing motor theory, power electronic control principles, vector and servo drives (stepper, DC, induction, brushless PM, and switched-reluctance), modulation methods, and motor and drive selection and application. It emphasizes system design, implementation, control, computer interfacing, and electromagnetic interference, providing insight and defining common characteristics for future industrial drives spanning from robotics to electric vehicles and renewable energy integration.
- Fundamentals Of Power Electronics
- Power Semiconductor Devices And Converters
- Power Electronics In Electric Drives And Motion Control
Course learning outcomes
- Analyse the operating characteristics of key power semiconductor devices (diodes, MOSFETs, IGBTs, thyristors) by quantifying their voltage and current ratings, switching speeds and thermal resistances through measured experimental data and correlated theoretical models.
- Evaluate the efficiency of fundamental power electronic converters (AC-DC, DC-DC, DC-AC) by calculating power losses and achieving a measured efficiency under specified load conditions, validated through individual experiments.
- Model and predict the steady-state and transient behaviour of power electronic circuits by calculating circuit parameters (such as voltage ripple, current overshoot) with a limited deviation from simulated values, using appropriate circuit analysis techniques
- Design and optimize buck-boost converters for specific applications by selecting components that meet specified voltage, current, and thermal requirements, and achieving a simulated efficiency under defined operating conditions.
- Independently evaluate the operational performance of industrial power converters (DC-DC converter, brushless PM motor drive) by measuring key parameters (such as output voltage and current regulation, harmonics) and determining limitations within a specified operating range through independent laboratory experiments
- Synthesize and justify the selection of power converter topologies and control strategies for specific applications (motor drives, renewable energy systems and power supplies) by comparing solutions based on performance, cost and reliability metrics.
Availability
Class details
Mawson Lakes
Class number 30598
Section LE01
Size 200
Available 200
Class number 25353
Section PR01
Size 15
Available 15
Class number 25354
Section TU01
Size 15
Available 15
Class number 25355
Section WS01
Size 15
Available 15
Adelaide City Campus East
Class number 30597
Section LE01
Size 200
Available 200
Class number 25356
Section PR01
Size 20
Available 20
Class number 26387
Section PR02
Size 20
Available 20
Class number 21816
Section PR03
Size 20
Available 20
Class number 21815
Section PR04
Size 20
Available 20
Class number 21814
Section PR05
Size 20
Available 20
Class number 25357
Section TU01
Size 35
Available 35
Class number 21819
Section TU02
Size 35
Available 35
Class number 21818
Section TU03
Size 35
Available 35
Class number 25358
Section WS01
Size 46
Available 46
Class number 21817
Section WS02
Size 56
Available 56
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The Student Contribution amount displayed below is for students commencing a new program from 2021 onwards. If you are continuing in a program you commenced prior to 1 January 2021, or are commencing an Honours degree relating to an undergraduate degree you commenced prior to 1 January 2021, you may be charged a different Student Contribution amount from the amount displayed below. Please check the Student Contribution bands for continuing students here. If you are an international student, or a domestic student studying in a full fee paying place, and are continuing study that you commenced in 2025 or earlier, your fees will be available here before enrolments open for 2026.