Toward Reliable Power Electronics: Challenges, Design Tools, and Opportunities

A new era of power electronics was created with the invention of the thyristor in 1957. Since then, the evolution of modern power electronics has witnessed its full potential and is quickly expanding in the applications of generation, transmission, distribution, and end-user consumption of electrical power. The performance of power electronic systems, especially in terms of efficiency and power density, has been continuously improved by the intensive research and advancements in circuit topologies, control schemes, semiconductors, passive components, digital signal processors, and system integration technologies.