What does a practising electrical engineer actually need to do when commissioning a variable-frequency drive installation? They need to calculate the available fault current at the MCC bus. They need to verify that the input harmonics meet IEEE 519-2022 at the point of common coupling — and know whether a detuning reactor, passive filter, or active front end is the appropriate solution. They need to understand why the motor cable length matters, how to size the DC-link capacitor, and how to set the V/f ratio before switching to field-oriented control. Then they need the PLC to sequence the start and stop interlocks, and the PID controller to maintain the process setpoint under load disturbances.
Fundamentals of Industrial Electronics is structured around exactly this sequence of engineering decisions. Rather than presenting isolated theory, the book develops every principle from first principles and then shows where and how it applies in the integrated industrial system — with complete worked examples and practice problems that reproduce the reasoning required in actual engineering practice.
Through this book, readers will be able to:- Apply the per-unit system and transformer equivalent circuit to calculate available fault current at any bus in an industrial distribution system, and verify that protective device interrupting ratings are adequate
- Evaluate and compare power semiconductor technologies — silicon IGBTs, SiC MOSFETs, and GaN devices — for switching frequency, conduction loss, thermal management requirements, and gate drive circuit design
- Analyse all four major power converter families from volt-second balance and charge balance principles through to practical design decisions: output ripple, inductor sizing, capacitor selection, and closed-loop bandwidth
- Determine three-phase induction motor slip, torque, efficiency, and power factor from the equivalent circuit, and select the correct NEMA design class for variable-speed drive applications
- Specify and size a complete VFD installation: rectifier topology, DC-link capacitor, inverter switching strategy, control mode selection (V/f, FOC, or DTC), cable EMC requirements, and bearing current mitigation
- Interpret and apply IEEE 519-2022 harmonic current limits, perform total demand distortion calculations, and specify appropriate mitigation — passive filters, detuning reactors, multi-pulse designs, or active filters
- Design and troubleshoot PLC ladder logic programs including motor start/stop interlock circuits, timer and counter logic, and E-stop safety circuits conforming to IEC 62061
- Model industrial process dynamics using FOPDT approximations, tune PID controllers with open-loop and closed-loop methods, analyse gain and phase margins, and implement cascade and feedforward control strategies
The thirteen chapters progress from industrial power system fundamentals through semiconductor devices, AC-DC rectifiers, DC-DC converters, DC-AC inverters, AC-AC controllers, transformers, motors, variable-frequency drives, industrial sensors, PLC programming, PID control, and power quality and protection — each chapter developed at the same level of mathematical rigour, with worked examples showing every calculation step and units tracked throughout.
Standards referenced and explained in context include IEEE 519-2022 (harmonics), NEMA MG1 Part 31 (inverter-duty motors), IEC 61131-3 (PLC programming languages), NEC Articles 250 and 430 (grounding and motor branch circuits), UL 508A (industrial control panels), IEEE 142 (industrial grounding), IEEE 1584-2018 (arc flash), and others used daily by practising engineers.
This book is the right choice for upper-level electrical engineering students who need an integrated course resource and for practising engineers who have worked with individual components of industrial drive systems and now need the rigorous, complete technical picture. It is also a relevant preparation resource for engineers pursuing the NCEES PE Power examination.
Add this technically rigorous reference to your engineering library and start exploring the principles, calculations, and integrated system design methods that connect every component of an industrial drive system — from the utility meter to the process setpoint.
