Recent advances and applications of power electronics and motor drives - Introduction and perspective

Power electronics has now emerged as one of the most important disciplines in electrical engineering after nearly four decades of technology evolution. The cost, size and performance advantages have promoted power electronics applications extensively in industrial, commercial, residential, transportation, utility, aerospace, and military environments in recent years. This summary paper will include discussion on the importance of power electronics and perspective on advances and trends of power semiconductor devices, converters, motor drives, and advanced control and estimation techniques.