A Review of Methods to Increase the Availability of Wind Turbine Generator Systems

Shipurkar, Udai; Polinder, H.; Ferreira, J.A.

doi:10.24295/cpsstpea.2016.00007

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…On the other hand, hermetically sealed converters are less likely to fail due to moisture, which is the case with subsea power converters analysed in this study. Other failure mechanisms include corrosion, dielectric breakdown, and so forth [27]. These failure mechanisms, however are extraneous to this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Both the converters are connected by an intermediate DC-link capacitance. The DC-link voltage of the converter is calculated based on the line voltage of the grid side, according to the following equation [27]:…”

Section: Converter Specificationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…where, x is the overvoltage factor (here limited to 1.15); m is the modulation index (again, limited to 1.15) for space vector modulation; and V ll is the line-to-line rms voltage. The DC-link capacitor value is calculated similar to Reference [27]. The voltage rating of the IGBT is selected based on the dc-link voltage.…”

Section: T1mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Active control of cooling systems, switching frequency and modulation strategies, and power loss redistribution (in case of parallel converters) are some commonly used techniques to improve lifetime in WT converters [24][25][26]. Adding redundancy is another way of improving the overall reliability in WT converters and subsea applications [1,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lifetime Analysis of IGBT Power Modules in Passively Cooled Tidal Turbine Converters

et al. 2020

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Thermal cycling is one of the major reasons for failure in power electronic converters. For submerged tidal turbine converters investigating this failure mode is critical in improving the reliability, and minimizing the cost of energy from tidal turbines. This paper considers a submerged tidal turbine converter which is passively cooled by seawater, and where the turbine has fixed-pitch blades. In this respect, this study is different from similar studies on wind turbine converters, which are mostly cooled by active methods, and where turbines are mostly pitch controlled. The main goal is to quantify the impact of surface waves and turbulence in tidal stream velocity on the lifetime of the converter IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) modules. The lifetime model of the IGBT modules is based on the accumulation of fatigue due to thermal cycling. Results indicate that turbulence and surface waves can have a significant impact on the lifetime of the IGBT modules. Furthermore, to accelerate the speed of the lifetime calculation, this paper uses a modified approach by dividing the thermal models into low and high frequency models. The final calculated lifetime values suggest that relying on passive cooling could be adequate for the tidal converters as far as thermal cycling is concerned.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Converter Specificationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: T1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lifetime Analysis of IGBT Power Modules in Passively Cooled Tidal Turbine Converters

et al. 2020

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“…Failures within the electrical drivetrain, particularly in the power converters, are the major contributor to maintenance costs [3]. This restriction steadily increases the expenditure associated with foundations, substations and subsea cables of offshore WTs as well as their maintenance costs [4]. A health monitoring system of the electrical drivetrain can increase the probability of finding the early signs of degradation, preventing total failure by informing maintenance decisions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancement of Reliability in Condition Monitoring Techniques in Wind Turbines

Moeini

Weston

Tricoli

et al. 2019

2019 23rd International Conference on Mechatronics Technology (ICMT)

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The majority of electrical failures in wind turbines occur in the semiconductor components (IGBTs) of converters. To increase reliability and decrease the maintenance costs associated with this component, several health-monitoring methods have been proposed in the literature. Many laboratory-based tests have been conducted to detect the failure mechanisms of the IGBT in their early stages through monitoring the variations of thermo-sensitive electrical parameters. The methods are generally proposed and validated with a single-phase converter with an aircored inductive or resistive load. However, limited work has been carried out considering limitations associated with measurement and processing of these parameters in a three-phase converter. Furthermore, looking at just variations of the module junction temperature will most likely lead to unreliable health monitoring as different failure mechanisms have their own individual effects on temperature variations of some, or all, of the electrical parameters. A reliable health monitoring system is necessary to determine whether the temperature variations are due to the presence of a premature failure or from normal converter operation. To address this issue, a temperature measurement approach should be independent from the failure mechanisms. In this paper, temperature is estimated by monitoring an electrical parameter particularly affected by different failure types. Early bond wire lift-off is detected by another electrical parameter that is sensitive to the progress of the failure. Considering two separate electrical parameters, one for estimation of temperature (switching off time) and another to detect the premature bond wire lift-off (collector emitter on-state voltage) enhance the reliability of an IGBT could increase the accuracy of the temperature estimation as well as premature failure detection.

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Zero-maintenance of electronic systems: Perspectives, challenges, and opportunities

McWilliam

Khan

Farnsworth

et al. 2018

Microelectronics Reliability

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Self-engineering systems that are capable of repairing themselves in-situ without the need for human decision (or intervention) could be used to achieve zero-maintenance. This philosophy is synonymous to the way in which the human body heals and repairs itself up to a point. This article synthesises issues related to an emerging area of self-healing technologies that links software and hardware mitigations strategies. Efforts are concentrated on built-in detection, masking and active mitigation that comprises self-recovery or self-repair capability, and has a focus on system resilience and recovering from fault events. Design techniques are critically reviewed to clarify the role of fault coverage, resource allocation and fault awareness, set in the context of existing and emerging printable/nanoscale manufacturing processes. The analysis presents new opportunities to form a view on the research required for a successful integration of zero-maintenance. Finally, the potential cost benefits and future trends are enumerated.

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A Review of Methods to Increase the Availability of Wind Turbine Generator Systems

Cited by 9 publications

References 95 publications

Lifetime Analysis of IGBT Power Modules in Passively Cooled Tidal Turbine Converters

Lifetime Analysis of IGBT Power Modules in Passively Cooled Tidal Turbine Converters

Enhancement of Reliability in Condition Monitoring Techniques in Wind Turbines

Zero-maintenance of electronic systems: Perspectives, challenges, and opportunities

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