The Impact of Topology and Mission Profile on the Reliability of Boost-type Converters in PV Applications

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of different converter topologies and mission profiles on the reliability of dc/dc boost-type PV converters. The reliability of three boosttype converters with the same input/output specifications is modeled employing a mission profile-based reliability evaluation method considering non-constant failure rate for the electrical components. This study identifies the contribution of active and passive components on the converter reliability for identifying the most failure prone components. Furthermore, the applicability of converter structures for different climate conditions is demonstrated seen from the reliability point of view.

System-level reliability enhancement of DC/DC stage in a single-phase PV inverter

“…The accumulated damage of the IGBT switches is estimated by ADs = ∑nf/Nf, where nf is the number of cycles with heating time ton, Tjm and ΔTj are minimum junction temperature and junction temperature swing induced by the mission profile respectively, and Nf is the number of cycles to failure under these loading condition which can be obtained by (3). Furthermore, Monte-Carlo simulation is employed to calculate the reliaibilty function of IGBTs following [2].…”

“…Power module and capacitor manufacturers aim at improving the lifetime of power converters by strengthening individual components. Furthermore, improving the converter reliability can be feasible employing Design for Reliability (DfR) approaches during converter design procedure [1]- [3]. So far, mission profile based DfR methods have been presented to evaluate the converter reliability in order to maintain a desired lifetime.…”

Incorporating Power Electronic Converters Reliability Into Modern Power System Reliability Analysis

“…In the converter-level, the SSA is used for converter lifetime extension by active thermal management approaches such as appropriate modulation strategies [20]- [22], adaptive switching frequency [23], and active/reactive power control [24]- [26]. The converter topologies and photovoltaic array characteristics are other factors affecting the converter lifetime [22], [27], [28]. Furthermore, the capacitors lifetime expansion is explored in [27], [28] by interleaving the converters.…”

Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) in Power Electronic based Power Systems

“…The converter reliability modeling can be carried out at three hierarchal levels including device, converter and system levels [4]. Device level modeling requires to consider the very fast dynamics of operation such as semiconductor switching effects [14]. This may introduce more complexity for the system level analysis in the large PEPSs [15].…”