Abstract

Historically, it came about that the analysis and design of the power electronic converter center around currents and voltages in the circuits. During the last decade, the electromagnetic character of power electronic converters became more important due to the noise that the switches generates and electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards have been put in place to control the electromagnetic noise levels. In this contribution, it is argued that coming to grips with the electromag-netic operation of switch-mode power conversion presents a barrier of knowledge that will have to be crossed in order to achieve fu-ture meaningful innovation in switch-mode power conversion. Rig-orous electromagnetic analysis using realistic parameters are used to indicate important issues relating fundamental limits and techno-logical paths for future generations of power electronic converters. Electromagnetic integration in three dimensions creates new possi-bilities to increase power densities. Keywords—Electromagnetic analysis, energy conversion, power electronics, switched-mode power supplies.