Easy to use power electronics converter

This work presents a power electronics converter design philosophy adapted to the needs of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) wanting to integrate them into their products and processes. A basic premise of this research is that the use of power electronics can help advance various processes and equipment. Noteworthy successes in transportation and energy are convincing examples supporting the validity of this premise. Unfortunately, power electronics is an abstract field that takes many years of advanced studies to master. It is unthinkable for most users to modify their power electronics equipment themselves. This has greatly limited its diffusion, remaining unknown and misunderstood by potential industrial users. Our objective is therefore to develop a power electronics converter that is as easy to use as the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) that are so often used in industrial equipment. The converter is designed so that OEM staff can adapt it to improve their process, without the need to become power electronics experts. This philosophy was central to the design of this new power converter. The focus of this work is not on the electrical performance of this converter but on its functionalities designed to simplify its usage by the OEMs. The chapter dedicated to design methodology also covers some reliability and safety aspects of this type of equipment. This subject is often neglected but is crucial to power converter designers. This is especially important when the converter is intended to be used by people less who are less aware of the dangers. The usefulness of the design is presented in the last chapter, with a real industrial application in ozone production reaching up to 1.2MW