Lifetime comparison of power semiconductors in three-level converters for 10MW wind turbine systems

Journal article (2018)

Authors

U. Shipurkar DC systems, Energy conversion & Storage -

E. Lyrakis Delft Energy Initiative -

Ke Ma Shanghai Jiao Tong University

H. Polinder Transport Engineering and Logistics - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Jan Abraham Ferreira ESE Programmes -

Research Group

DC systems, Energy conversion & Storage () (TU Delft)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JESTPE.2018.2833631

Wind Energy Topology Power electronics Reliability Wind turbines Failure analysis Switches Maintenance engineering Direct Drive PM Generator Lifetime Estimation Multilevel Converter Semiconductor Device Relaibility

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Published Date

2018

Language

English

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Department

Electrical Sustainable Energy

Research Group

DC systems, Energy conversion & Storage

Abstract

The power electronic converter, especially the power semiconductor, is a major contributor to the failure rates of the wind turbine drivetrain. As the temperature is a major driving factor behind the failure mechanisms of these power semiconductors the choice of topology and switching strategy can have a significant effect on the reliability of the converter. This paper presents a detailed comparison of several three level converter topologies and switching strategies on the basis of loss distribution, thermal, and lifetime performance. This investigation is done through simulations on a 10MW direct drive permanent magnet drivetrain. The study shows that over-rating in the form of using overrated topologies, or the use of overrated components can result in large gains in lifetime expectancy and quantifies these gains. It concludes that the improvements offered by overrated topologies and overrated components are comparable and that use of the overrated topologies do not offer a significant advantage over the use of topologies with overrated components.

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