Power Electronic Building Blocks-a systematic approach to power electronics

Over a period of five years, the US Navy has invested in an array of power electronic technology via the Power Electronic Building Blocks (PEBB) program. This investment is crucial to existing and future Navy ships. This investment is also crucial to the power electronics industry. Throughout the PEBB program, many modern paradigms have been studied for adaptation to power electronics. They are open plug and play architecture, cellular design, hierarchical design, integration, and concurrent engineering. The goal is to make power electronics more amenable to high-volume, low-cost, production. Furthermore, the expertise and complexity of power electronics is to be encapsulated and distributed within each building block. The key issue is the ability to integrate these elements, using high volume manufacturing methods.