PSE 6031 SYLLABUS (Tentative)
Power Electronics (3 credits)
Friday Afternoon: 1:00-3:00 PM
15 Virtual Class Meetings (no face-face meetings)
Pre-requisites: All coursework to qualify for the upper division in ECE must be completed.
Instructor: TBD (syllabus prepared by Prof. Ned Mohan)
Course Number: PSE 6031
Course Title: Power Electronics
Credits: 3
Course Description: Power Electronics is an enabling technology and the focus of this class is
such that students learn its various applications, basic converter structures and how these
converters are used and controlled in these applications. By exploiting the commonality of
various converters, students get a much deeper and broader understanding.
This course will have a top-down approach, first describing various applications of power
electronics which are extremely wide ranging, spanning everything that produces, delivers and
consumes electric power.
The concentration of this course will be on switch-mode power electronics where the transistors
such as MOSFETs and IGBTs are used as semiconductor switches – either ON or OFF. The
terminal characteristics of these devices will be discussed for designing converters in which they
are used in order to calculate conduction and switching losses for thermal management and
design trade-offs; however, in analyzing the voltage transfer ratios in various converter
topologies and in their feedback control, these semiconductor devices and the associated passive
components will be considered ideal.
The last part of the course will discuss thyristor-based converters used at very high power levels
in electric-utility applications.
Purpose of Course: To have students obtain a thorough understanding of the basic principles
behind power-electronic converters, and the applications where they are used, to analyze and
build these in industry, and to use this knowledge as a springboard for further research in this
field.
Those required to design such dc-dc and dc-ac converters will be able to follow the Application
Notes provided by device/component manufactures and prior designs, as a starting point. Those
interested in system integration incorporating these converters and their control will be able to do
so intelligently. In power-related applications, this course will enable students to understand the
role of switch-mode converters in integrating renewable energy sources such as wind and solar
into the utility grid. It will provide the understanding of the role that power electronics is
expected to play in the transmission and distribution grid of electric utilities of the future.
Prerequisites:
Circuit analysis – dc and sinusoidal ac in steady state using phasors; basic idea of diode,
transistor and thyristor operation; Fourier analysis; Laplace Transform: Bode Plots, gain and
phase margin; Electromagnetic field concepts, magnetic-circuit concepts
Textbook:
Power Electronics: A First Course
Author: Mohan, Ned
ISBN: 1118074807 9781118074800
Publisher: Wiley & Sons
Course Objectives/Competencies/Weekly Coverage (some topics over 2-3 weeks):
Week 1:
Describe the role of Power Electronics as an enabling technology in various applications such
as flexible production systems, energy conservation, renewable energy, transportation etc.
Identify a switching power-pole as the basic building block and to use Pulse Width Modulation
to synthesize the desired output. [Chapter 1]
Assigned video clip – 1, 2
Homework Questions: 1-2, 1-4, 1-15, 1-16, 1-17
Week 2:
Learn the design of the switching power-pole using the available power semiconductor
devices, their drive circuitry and driver ICs and heat sinks. [Chapter 2]
Assigned video clip – 3, 4
Homework Questions: 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-7, 2-8
Week 3:
Learn the basic concepts of operation of dc-dc converters in steady state in continuous and
discontinuous modes and be able to analyze basic converter topologies. [Chapter 3]
Assigned video clip – 5, 6
Homework Questions: 3-4, 3-6, 3-10, 3-11, 3-17
Week 4:
Using the average model of the building block, quickly simulate the dynamic performance of
dc-dc converters and compare them with their switching counterparts. [Chapter 3]
Assigned video clip – 6, 7
Homework Questions: 3-20, 3-22, 3-29, 3-30, 3-31
Week 5:
Design controllers for dc-dc converters in voltage and peak-current mode. [Chapter 4]
Assigned video clip – 8, 9, 10, 11
Homework Questions: 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-5, 4-6
Week 6:
Design, using simulations, the interface between the power electronics equipment and singlephase and three-phase utility using diode rectifiers and analyze the total harmonic distortion.
[Chapter 5]
Assigned video clip – 12, 13, 14
Homework Questions: 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5
Week 7:
Design the single-phase power factor correction (PFC) circuits to draw sinusoidal currents at
unity power factor and diode rectifiers. [Chapter 6]
Assigned video clip – 15-18
Homework Questions: 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-6
Week 8:
Mid-term Exam
Learn basic magnetic concepts, analyze transformer-isolated switch-mode power supplies and
design high-frequency inductors and transformers. [Chapter 7, 8, 9]
Assigned video clip – 19-22
Homework Questions: 7-1, 7-7, 8-1, 8-5, 8-10
Week 9:
Learn basic concepts of soft-switching and their applications to dc-dc converters, compact
fluorescent lamps (CFL) and induction heating. [Chapter 9, 10]
Assigned video clip - 23
Homework Questions: 9-3, 9-5, 10-1, 10-2
Week 10:
Learn the requirements imposed by electric drives (dc and ac) on converters. [Chapter 11]
Assigned video clip - 24
Homework Questions: 11-1, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8, 11-11
Week 11:
synthesize single-phase inverters using the building block approach. [Chapter 12]
Assigned video clip – 25, 26
Homework Questions: 12-1, 12-3, 12-6, 12-11, 12-12
Week 12:
synthesize three-phase inverters using the building block approach. [Chapter 12]
Assigned video clip – 27-29
Homework Questions: 12-13, 12-14, 12-15, 12-16
Week 13:
Understand, simulate and design single-phase thyristor converters. [Chapter 13]
Assigned video clip – 30, 31
Homework Questions: 13-1, 13-2, 13-13
Week 14:
Understand, simulate and design three-phase thyristor converters. [Chapter 13]
Assigned video clip - 32
Homework Questions: 13-4, 13-5, 13-6, 13-7, 13-8
Week 15:
Learn the role of Power Electronics in utility-related applications which are becoming
extremely important. [Chapter 14]
Assigned video clip - 33
Homework Questions: 14-1, 14-2, 14-4, 14-7, 14-9
Course Requirements:
1) Every week, as a pre-class assignment, prior to attending the virtual class:
a. Watch the assigned video clip
b. Read the assigned pages from the textbook
c. Complete the assigned Concept Quizzes
d. Complete the Questions to be discussed in the virtual class
2) Every week, attend the virtual class synchronously and/or asynchronously
3) Every week, finish all assigned homework problems in the allotted time.
4) Take the Mid-Term and the Final exams at the pre-announced time under a proctored
setting.
Course Policies:
1. We take scholastic honesty very seriously; for various policies, please see the following:
http://www.policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/SYLLABUSREQUIREMENT
S.html.
2. Both midterm Exams will count towards your grade.
3. There will be no make-up midterm exams. However, if you miss one midterm due to
medical emergency documented with a physician’s letter, your grade will be normalized
out of 85 points.
4. If you miss the Final Exam due to medical emergency documented with a physician’s
letter, you will receive a grade of “Incomplete” and you must take a new Final Exam at a
mutually agreed time before the end of Spring 2015, in order for “Incomplete” to be
removed.
5. Submission of Assignments on time: Unless the instructor extends the due date of an
assignment, it will not be accepted.
6. You are expected to have a calculator available in each virtual-class.
Policies regarding Concept Quizzes and In-class Discussion Problems:
1. Each pre-class set of Concept Quizzes and In-Class Problem Sets, if assigned, will be
weighted equally.
2. For each student, 3 sets of Concept Quizzes and In-Class Problem Sets with the lowest
scores will not be counted or being absent due to religious observances, etc.
Grading:
Final Grade:
5% Weekly Concept Quizzes
15% Weekly solution to problems to be discussed in class
15% weekly assigned homework problems
20% Mid-Term Exam
45% Final Exam
Instructor Contact:
Virtual Office Hours:
E-mail:
Phone:
TA Contact:
Virtual Office Hours:
E-mail:
Phone: