Q.What are the advantages of static switches?

Power electronics is the art of converting electrical energy from one form to another efficiently, smoothly, compactly and robustly. The exact output — its voltage, current and frequency — depends on the load and the application.

At the heart of every converter is the static switch. Any power semiconductor device can be used as a bistable solid-state switch with two stable states — non-conducting (OFF) and conducting (ON) — exactly like a mechanical switch, but with real advantages over an electromechanical relay:

1. it is completely static, with no moving parts, no arcing and silent operation;
2. it is very fast, compact and long-lived;
3. it is more reliable and works over a much wider range than a relay; and
4. it can operate directly from the mains at high voltage and high current.

Power converters are grouped by the type of conversion they perform:

• Rectifier — converts AC into unipolar (DC) current (AC to DC). …