More than a century ago, in 1902, American Engineer Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921) derived the mercury-arc rectifier, enclosed in a glass bulb, from his mercury-vapor lamp of the previous year. He devised its use for feeding dc motors from alternating currents. As the first rectifier for power uses (two years before John Ambrose Fleming's diode and four years before Lee de Forest's audion [1]), the mercury-arc rectifier marked the birth of power electronics. The device was used in 1905 in Schenectady, New York, for powering a dc line for incandescent lamps and, soon after, in rectifiers for battery chargers and electrochemical processes, including aluminum reduction and electroplating. Aiming for higher powers, Cooper Hewitt introduced the metal casing with water cooling in 1909.

中文翻译：

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巩固电力电子 [历史]

一个多世纪以前，也就是 1902 年，美国工程师 Peter Cooper Hewitt（1861-1921）从他前一年的汞蒸气灯中衍生出封装在玻璃灯泡中的汞弧整流器。他设计了将交流电用于直流电机供电的用途。作为第一个用于电力用途的整流器（比 John Ambrose Fleming 的二极管早两年，比 Lee de Forest 的 audion [1] 早四年），汞弧整流器标志着电力电子的诞生。该设备于 1905 年在纽约的斯克内克塔迪被用于为白炽灯的直流线路供电，不久之后用于电池充电器和电化学过程的整流器，包括铝还原和电镀。为了获得更高的功率，Cooper Hewitt 于 1909 年推出了带水冷功能的金属外壳。