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Converter |
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(1) A device that changes one set of codes, modes, sequences or frequencies to a different set. See A/D converter. Converter A device for processing alternating-current (ac) or direct-current (dc) power to provide a different electrical waveform. The term converter denotes a mechanism for either processing ac power into dc power (rectifier) or deriving power with an ac waveform from dc (inverter). Some converters serve both functions, others only one. See Alternating current, Direct current, Rectifier Converters are used for such applications as (1) rectification from ac to supply electrochemical processes with large controlled levels of direct current; (2) rectification of ac to dc followed by inversion to a controlled frequency of ac to supply variable-speed ac motors; (3) interfacing dc power sources (such as fuel cells and photoelectric devices) to ac distribution systems; (4) production of dc from ac power for subway and streetcar systems, and for controlled dc voltage for speed-control of dc motors in numerous industrial applications; and (5) transmission of dc electric power between rectifier stations and inverter stations within ac generation and transmission networks. See Alternating-current motor, Direct-current transmission The introduction of the thyristor (silicon-controlled rectifier) in the 1960s had an immediate effect on converter applications because of its ruggedness, reliability, and compactness. Power semiconductor devices for converter circuits include (1) thyristors, controlled unidirectional switches that, once conducting, have no capability to suppress current; (2) triacs, thyristor devices with bidirectional control of conduction; (3) gate turn-off devices with the properties of thyristors and the further capability of suppressing current; and (4) power transistors, high-power transistors operating in the switching mode, somewhat similar in properties to gate turn-off devices. Thyristors are available with ratings from a few watts up to the capability of withstanding several kilovolts and conducting several kiloamperes. See Semiconductor rectifier |
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Just as the click of the reaper means bread, and the purr of the sewing-machine means clothes, and the roar of the Bessemer converter means steel, and the rattle of the press means education, so the ring of the telephone bell has come to mean unity and organization. Bar, with his little insinuating jury droop, and fingering his persuasive double eye-glass, hoped he might be excused if he mentioned to one of the greatest converters of the root of all evil into the root of all good, who had for a long time reflected a shining lustre on the annals even of our commercial country--if he mentioned, disinterestedly, and as, what we lawyers called in our pedantic way, amicus curiae, a fact that had come by accident within his knowledge. |
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Converter
