학술논문

Inverter Reliability Estimation for Advanced Inverter Functionality
Document Type
Conference
Source
2022 IEEE 49th Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC) Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2022 IEEE 49th. :0183-0189 Jun, 2022
Subject
Aerospace
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Photonics and Electrooptics
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Reactive power
Failure analysis
Aging
Inverters
Data models
Power system reliability
Stress
inverter reliability
grid-support functions
stress
lifetime
component degradation
Language
Abstract
In the near future, grid operators are expected to regularly use advanced distributed energy resource (DER) functions, defined in IEEE 1547–2018, to perform a range of grid-support operations. Many of these functions adjust the active and reactive power of the device through commanded or autonomous modes, which will produce new stresses on the grid-interfacing power electronics components, such as DC/AC inverters. In previous work, multiple DER devices were instrumented to evaluate additional component stress under multiple reactive power setpoints. We utilize quasi-static time-series simulations to determine voltage-reactive power mode (volt-var) mission profile of inverters in an active power system. Mission profiles and loss estimates are then combined to estimate the reduction of the useful life of inverters from different reactive power profiles. It was found that the average lifetime reduction was approximately 0.15% for an inverter between standard unity power factor operation and the IEEE 1547 default volt-var curve based on thermal damage due to switching in the power transistors. For an inverter with an expected 20-year lifetime, the 1547 volt-var curve would reduce the expected life of the device by 12 days. This framework for determining an inverter's useful life from experimental and modeling data can be applied to any failure mechanism and advanced inverter operation.