This two-volume work captures in a clearly written format the results of more than 40 years of research and teaching in the disciplines of power electronics at Duke University. The late Professor Thomas G. Wilson, a pioneer in the nascent field of power electronics, leveraged his knowledge of magnetics principles and nonlinear magnetic devices to complement rapid advancements in power semiconductor devices and circuits. Through research projects sponsored by NASA and the telecommunications and computer industries, Prof. Wilson and his co-investigator, the late Professor Harry A. Owen, Jr., forged new paths of research and discovery as power electronics evolved into an important enabling technology for modern electronic systems. Late in their careers, they collaborated on the writing of this book in order to share their acquired knowledge with those interested in exploring power electronics.
An important distinguishing feature of this work is its emphasis on magnetics theory, materials, and applications. This topic, though critical to the understanding of power conversion processes, is often underrepresented in power electronics publications. However, there is significant untapped potential available to those engineers who choose to pursue more completely these principles of magnetics theory and design.
The third author, Dr. Thomas G. Wilson, Jr., is the president of Simplis Technologies, a developer of leading simulation tools for power electronics systems. Dr. Wilson brings his decades of research and knowledge of piecewise linear analysis to Volume 2, where the modeling and analysis of energy storage dc-to-dc converters is treated extensively, and a method for designing the energy storage reactor using the winding turns N versus effective relative permeability μr plane is introduced.
This book serves as a text for senior undergraduate or graduate level courses for students beginning their journey into power electronics. It is written with the skill of experienced teachers, for the purpose of teaching. Numerous detailed examples are presented to give the reader opportunities to learn by doing. It also serves as an excellent reference book for those working in the field of power electronics who want to enhance their understanding of the fundamental principles that make the power conversion process possible.
Volume I of this text discusses nonlinear component and circuit modeling, magnetics fundamentals and applications. This basic material is followed by discussions of responses of transformers under various excitation conditions, the design of transformers, and considerations of leakage flux and leakage inductance in magnetic structures.
Volume II builds on this fundamental understanding and introduces steady-state analysis techniques for a combination of reactor-energy-storage dc-to-dc converter configurations and control laws.
