Plenary talk — The evolution of power electronic converters for electric drive systems

Summary form only given. This talk will trace the evolution and the current state of the art of the power electronic switching devices and inverters/converters for variable-speed motor drive systems. The talk will start with a brief review of the transition from the early thyristors of late 1960s to modern power electronic devices such as IGBT, GTO, and SiC devices. The power switching capacity in terms of voltage and current, switching frequency, efficiency and reliability will be the factors to emphasise the trends and the underlying reasons for their adoption. The topology of an inverter and its controller for bi-directional power follow into a superconducting coil based active filter will also be described.