Systematic mixing of theory and practice in power electronics curriculum in undergraduate and postgraduate courses

Heartbeat of electronic products and systems is a regulated DC power supply. Available energy source being the commercial AC supply or a battery pack, there is a large amount of power conversion and power management within the power interface today. By the year 2000, around 75% of all generated power was processed by power electronics. Compact electronic systems, portability, energy efficiency, green design concepts, shorter product life cycles, scale of integration within modern VLSIs, and many other modern trends add new dimensions to the demands of power electronic know how from engineers. Career minded students who intend enrolling for power electronics (PE) courses now face between the need for ready-to-go industry know how versus theory and traditional topics taught in an academic sense. The paper addresses the recent development trends, power interface and conversion needs and new topics in PE, compared to the traditional courses taught With an industry oriented literature search, paper also highlights the gaps, trends to follow, and the methodology for practical implementation of new courses etc. Protection aspects, energy saving, harmonics, thermal management and the transient response etc are also addressed.