Course
Power Electronics Academy
An engineering-level course on the electronics that move power around an EV — inverters, semiconductors, DC/DC conversion, charging electronics and the vehicle control unit that ties them together. Built around a system-wide power electronics explorer, PWM and DC/AC simulators, virtual labs and fault diagnosis scenarios.
By the end, you'll be able to
- Explain how an inverter converts DC battery power into controlled three-phase AC
- Compare MOSFET, IGBT, silicon carbide and gallium nitride switches on engineering criteria
- Describe how HV-LV DC/DC converters and on-board chargers are built and controlled
- Explain power factor correction and the stages inside an on-board charger
- Understand bidirectional charging and vehicle-to-grid power flow
- Describe the vehicle control unit's role in arbitration, functional safety and fault handling
Module 1
Inverters
How DC becomes controlled three-phase AC.
6 lessons
- 1What an inverter doesThe box between the battery and the motor that turns DC into three-phase AC.11 min
- 2Six-step switching vs. space-vector PWMTwo ways to approximate a sine wave, and why most drives use the smarter one.12 min
- 3Modulation index and overmodulationHow much of the DC bus voltage you can actually use, and what happens when you ask for more.10 min
- 4Field-oriented controlHow the inverter decides what current to command, tens of thousands of times a second.12 min
- 5Field weakening and top speedHow a motor keeps spinning faster once it has run out of voltage.10 min
- 6Inverter control loops in practiceNested loops, sampling rates and what happens when a fault is detected.11 min
Module 2
Power semiconductors
MOSFET, IGBT, SiC, GaN, losses and thermal design.
6 lessons
- 1MOSFETs and IGBTsThe two workhorse switch families and why each was chosen for different eras of EV drives.11 min
- 2Silicon carbide (SiC) power devicesA wider bandgap material that is reshaping the traction inverter market.12 min
- 3Gallium nitride (GaN) in EV electronicsWhere GaN fits today, and why it is not (yet) the traction inverter material.9 min
- 4Switching and conduction lossesWhere the watts actually go inside a power module.11 min
- 5Thermal management of power modulesGetting heat out of a die that is smaller than a postage stamp but dissipates hundreds of watts.10 min
- 6Power module packaging and reliabilityHow dies, substrates and housings are assembled into a module that must last the life of the car.11 min
Module 3
DC/DC conversion
HV-LV conversion, boost converters and 800V/400V architectures.
6 lessons
- 1The HV-LV DC/DC converterThe quiet component that replaced the alternator.10 min
- 2Buck and boost converter topologiesThe two fundamental building blocks of every DC/DC converter on the car.11 min
- 3800 V vs. 400 V architecturesWhy some EVs doubled their system voltage, and what it costs elsewhere in the car.12 min
- 4Converter control and regulationHow a DC/DC converter holds a rock-steady output despite a swinging input.9 min
- 548 V systems and their relationship to full EVsA second low-voltage standard, and why some platforms use both.8 min
- 6DC/DC converter faults and diagnosticsWhat happens to the car's electronics when this quiet component fails.10 min
Module 4
Charging electronics
On-board chargers, PFC, rectification and vehicle-to-grid.
6 lessons
- 1The on-board chargerThe converter that turns wall AC into battery-ready DC.10 min
- 2Power factor correctionWhy a charger cannot simply rectify AC and be done with it.10 min
- 3Rectification and the isolated DC/DC stageFrom corrected AC to a regulated, isolated DC output.11 min
- 4DC fast charging and the vehicle inletWhat is different when a station, not the on-board charger, does the conversion.10 min
- 5Bidirectional charging and vehicle-to-gridTurning the on-board charger into a two-way power converter.11 min
- 6Charging electronics faults and safetyWhat can go wrong during a charge session, and how the system contains it.10 min
Module 5
Vehicle control unit
CAN/LIN networking, functional safety and diagnostics.
6 lessons
- 1The vehicle control unitThe controller that decides what the car should do, not how each module does it.10 min
- 2CAN and LIN bus fundamentalsThe two workhorse networks that let dozens of controllers share one wire pair.11 min
- 3Functional safety in the VCUHow the software that controls torque proves it will fail safely.12 min
- 4Diagnostics and DTC managementHow the VCU records, reports and reacts to faults across the whole vehicle.10 min
- 5Limp-home and fault response strategiesHow a car keeps moving, safely and deliberately reduced, after something goes wrong.10 min
- 6Diagnosing a network faultA worked case: tracing an intermittent warning back to its source on the vehicle bus.11 min