Power electronics converters: Past, present and future

The development of power electronics in the past century and the current state of the art of power electronics converters are briefly reviewed, before giving an insight into the deficiencies of the conventional current-source and voltage-source converters and into the superiority of impedance-source converters and, then, proposing a design methodology for impedance-source converters aimed to replace the traditional tedious, manual and experience-dependent design methods. Some examples for their deployment in renewable-energy applications are discussed, and the direction into which power electronic converters will develop in the future is indicated.