In 1902, the first glass mercury arc rectifier appeared. In 1910, iron shell mercury arc rectifiers emerged. Replacing mechanical switches and converters with mercury arc rectifiers is the beginning of power electronics technology. In 1920, copper oxide rectifiers were trial produced, and in 1923, selenium rectifiers emerged. In the 1930s, these rectifiers began to be widely used in power rectification devices. Transistors emerged in the late 1940s. In the early 1950s, transistors developed towards high-power, and high-power diodes made of semiconductor single crystal materials also developed. In 1954, ASEA, a Swedish company, first used mercury arc tubes for high-voltage rectification and inversion, and applied them on ± 100 kV DC transmission lines to transmit 20 megawatts of electricity. In 1956, American J. Moore made the prototype of a thyristor. In 1957, American R A. York made practical thyristors. In the late 1950s, thyristors were used in power electronic devices. Since the 1960s, they have been rapidly promoted and a series of derivative devices have been developed, expanding the application fields of power electronic technology. With the promotion of thyristor applications, many power electronic circuits have been developed, which can be divided into:

① A rectifier circuit that converts AC electrical energy into DC electrical energy;

② An inverter circuit that converts DC electrical energy into AC electrical energy;

③ An AC conversion circuit that converts one form of AC electrical energy into another form of AC electrical energy;

④ A DC conversion circuit that converts one form of DC electrical energy into another form of DC electrical energy.

These circuits all contain thyristors, and each thyristor requires a corresponding trigger. So many trigger control circuits emerged in conjunction with these power electronic circuits. According to the devices used, these control circuits can generally be divided into three generations. The first generation of control circuits mainly consisted of discrete electronic components such as transistors and diodes. Until the late 1980s, it was still used quite a bit. The second generation consists of integrated circuits. Since the emergence of the world's first integrated circuit in the United States in 1958, its development has been exceptionally rapid. It is applied to the control circuits of power electronic devices, making their structure compact, functionality, and reliability improved. The third generation is controlled by microcomputers. Since the 1970s, the development of microcomputers has further advanced power electronic devices towards achieving intelligence. With the development and improvement of power electronic circuits, many types of power electronic devices composed of thyristors continue to emerge. Such as high-power electrolytic power sources, welding power sources, and DC power sources for electroplating; DC and AC traction, DC transmission, AC cascade speed regulation, frequency conversion speed regulation, and other transmission power sources; Power electronic devices used in power systems such as excitation, reactive power static compensation, and harmonic compensation; Low frequency, medium frequency, high frequency power supplies and other non power frequency power supplies, especially induction heating medium and high frequency power supplies; Various industrial power electronic power supplies such as uninterrupted power supply and AC stabilized power supply; Various voltage regulators and so on. These power electronic devices have higher electrical efficiency compared to traditional electric motor generator sets (taking electric motor generator sets with a capacity of 10 kW to hundreds of kW and a frequency of 1000 Hz as an example, their efficiency is improved under rated load) η= 80%, and significantly decreases as the load decreases. If using a thyristor power supply, η≥ 92%, with little variation with load, therefore, it has a significant energy-saving effect. Power electronic devices are static devices with small footprint, light weight, and convenient installation (taking welding power sources as an example, compared with rotary welding machines, they reduce weight by 80% and save energy by 15%). At the same time, power electronic devices often have easy adjustment of frequency, voltage, etc., fast response, multiple functions, and high degree of automation. Therefore, when used in industry, it not only significantly saves energy, but also often improves productivity and product quality, saves raw materials, and often improves the working environment. However, most power electronic devices are electronic switch devices, which often cause harmonic interference to the power grid and load, and sometimes also cause certain high-frequency interference to the surrounding environment. This must be properly addressed when designing these devices and systems (see high-order harmonic suppression).