New Photonic Power Converters: Theories and Experimental Verification

Photonic power converter (PPC) is a novel dc–dc converter or transformer, that uses photons as the medium to realize energy transfer. Current PPCs can only achieve dc–dc power conversion, limiting their application spectrum. To realize other types of power conversion, this study proposes ac–dc, ac–ac and dc–ac PCCs, which utilizes the combined material characteristics of light-emitting diode and photovoltaic cells. After theoretical proposition, prototypes for dc–dc, ac–dc, ac–ac, and dc–ac PPCs are built for experimental verification, and the total harmonic distortion (THD) is analyzed by power quality analyzer. The working prototypes of the four types of PPCs will find wide applications in various industries.