Power electronic building blocks, or PEBB for short, is where circuits are prebuilt as modules to save time for the researcher so that he/she can concentrate on more important tasks instead of building circuits. These prebuilt modules contain protective elements to protect not only the researcher, but also the components that make up the module and any other sensitive electrical equipment that may be connected to the circuit in use. Some advantages of these modules are that they would perform better as they have already undergone exhaustive testing, they speed up research (as mentioned above), mistakes that can be made during construction of these circuits are avoided, and also contain protection such as fuses, circuit breakers etc. (also mentioned above).

My fourth year thesis that I am undertaking at the University of Queensland requires me to build a set of modules. The initial module is a zero crossing detector circuit that takes 240 volts ac as the input and outputs a 5 volt or 0 volt logic signal. Further modules will include a voltage isolation module and a current isolation module.