Editing Electric power conversion (section)

{{Short description|Conversion of electric energy from one form to another}}
{{For|generic power conversion (e.g., [[heat]] to [[electric energy]])|Energy transformation}}
{{Power engineering}}

In [[electrical engineering]], '''power conversion''' is the process of converting [[electric energy]] from one form to another.

A power converter is an electrical device for converting electrical energy between [[alternating current]] (AC) and [[direct current]] (DC). It can also change the [[voltage]] or [[frequency]] of the current.

Power converters include simple devices such as [[transformer]]s, and more complex ones like [[resonant converter]]s. The term can also refer to a class of electrical machinery that is used to convert one [[utility frequency|frequency]] of [[alternating current]] into another. Power conversion systems often incorporate [[redundancy (engineering)|redundancy]] and [[voltage regulation]].

Power converters are classified based on the type of power conversion they perform. One way of classifying power conversion systems is based on whether the input and output is alternating or direct current.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Petrocelli|first=R.|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1641409|title=Proceedings of the CAS–CERN Accelerator School: Power Converters|publisher=[[CERN]]|year=2015|isbn=9789290834151|editor-last=Bailey|editor-first=R.|location=Geneva|page=15|chapter=One-Quadrant Switched-Mode Power Converters|arxiv=1607.02868|doi=10.5170/CERN-2015-003|s2cid=125663953 }}</ref>