Switch Voltage Rating Selection Considering Cost-Oriented Redundancy and Modularity-based Trade-offs in Modular Multilevel Converter

Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) find increasing applications in medium to high-voltage systems. In such systems, reliability-oriented selection of power electronic switches becomes essential because higher modularity implies an increased number of components. The trade-off between the impact of higher modularity on converter reliability...

Load Profile Based Reliability Assessment of IGBT Module in Full-bridge DC/DC Converter for Fast Charging of EVs

EV Fast chargers are crucial to alleviate the driving range anxiety for E-mobility applications. A typical converter load profile consists of a short high-current pulse to rapidly refill the EV battery followed by a cooling-off period once the charging is completed. Power electronic components experience thermal cycles as a result, which can...

Power and Thermal Cycling Testbed for End of Life Assessment of Semiconductor Devices

The reliability of semiconductor power devices can be studied by performing a thermal and power cycling test. In order to create the desired temperature cycles, there are four free variables to select during the power cycling test, namely the heating current, heating time, cooling time, and heatsink temperature. In this paper, the relation...

Reconfigurability, Modularity and Redundancy Trade-offs for Grid Connected Power Electronic Systems

Power electronic converters (PECs) are workhorses of emerging distribution networks. PEC interfaced grids can function as flexible power corridors facilitating compact and efficient energy exchange between distribution generation, load and storage elements. Introducing adequate Reconfigurability, Modularity, and Redundancy (RMR) in such PEC...

Impact of the Various Components Consideration on Choosing Optimal Redundancy Strategy in MMC

Power electronics converters will play a crucial role in power grid expansion. Superior advantages offered by MMC make it the most popular candidate amongst various converter topologies. However, due to a large number of components installed within MMC, reliability analysis is an unavoidable task that needs to be carried out to maximize the MMC...

DC microgrid islands on ships

Since shipboard power systems are inherently islanded and consist of energy intensive sources and loads, it is an interesting application for dc microgrids. The object of this paper is to explore the merits of dc based shipboard power distribution as compared to conventional ac solutions. A survey of current initiatives, emerging concepts and...

From DC nano- and microgrids towards the universal DC distribution system - a plea to think further into the future

The traditional ac power system is challenged by the increased amount of distributed energy resources. Enormous changes and investments are necessary in order to achieve an ac smart grid capable of coping with the challenges introduced. In dc, solutions seem to be more straightforward since most of the distributed energy sources and most of the...