Conclusion

Power electronics, which emerged in the early 1970s, made it possible to implement solutions already envisaged by railway engineers in the previous century, such as three-phase brushless machines and power supplies at industrial frequency, to name but two. If we were to summarize power electronics, we would say that it is the indispensable vector for linking all forms of electrical energy, continuously, bidirectionally and with excellent efficiency. Whenever it has been possible to replace electrotechnical components based on ferromagnetic material and copper with "intelligent" silicon components, the gain in control flexibility, energy consumption and compactness/lightness has been in favor of power electronics.

For the time being, semiconductor development seems to be marking time with the IGBT. However, the post-silicon era is already being heralded with the...