Difference Between Linear Electronics and Power Electronics

Electronics has now become the core component in the development of the technology. The fast processing computers with there compact size and high efficiency became possible due to the virtue of advancement in the field of electronics.
The electronics is sub divided into two types namely 
(1) Linear Electronics
(2) Power Electronics
We often mix up with these two words and sometimes use them interchangeably. But according to engineers these two have clearly distinguished from each other.

Linear Electronics

It is the branch of electronics in which we operate the devices in there active mode of operation. We know that the evolution of electronics started with the invention of Transistor. The two PN junctions placed side by side happened to the discovery of a BJT Transistor. Now we know that the operations of a BJT transistor can be shown by its current-voltage characteristic curve.

 Now from the above figure it is clear that BJT has three regions of Operation

1. Cut-Off Region
2. Saturation Region
3. Active Region

In linear electronics, we operate the transistor in its active region which can also be called ohmic region in which there is a relation-ship between current and the voltage with some gain value. This region is used in amplifiers circuits where we want to vary the current from collector to the emitter according to our need. In active region, the transistor itself also draws some power and hence causes power loss in it, which in return decrease the efficiency of the device.

Power Electronics

In power electronics, we deal with the cut-off and the saturation region of the transistor. Hence the transistor becomes a switch. When it is in cut off region, no current flows from collector to emitter ideally and it acts as an Off Switch. When it is in saturation region, rated current can flow from collector to emitter, hence act as an On Switch.

This the key difference between the mode of operation of transistor which gives rise to a complete new field in electronics called power electronics. The main feature of power electronics is high efficiency power conversion because in either On state or Off state the power drawn by the transistor is zero (ideally), and hence high efficient devices can be built with efficiency as high as 96%.

The switching converters which are the core of the power electronics actually use high speed switching transistors like MOSFETs and IGBTs which are also capable of sustaining voltages upto 1200 V and high currents. So these power devices help in the manufacturing of high speed devices.

Hope this article would be helpful.

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