Organizers:  

Prof. Frede Blaabjerg, fbl@energy.aau.dk
Postdoc Ariya Sangwongwanich ars@energy.aau.dk

Lecturers:    

Assist. Prof. Haoran Wang, AAU Energy
Postdoc Ariya Sangwongwanich, AAU Energy

ECTS: 2

Description:

Power electronics are essential for power conversion of Photovoltaic (PV) systems and their reliability of power electronics systems strongly affects the availability and consequently the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of PV energy. According to field experience, the power electronics systems (e.g., PV inverter) are among the most fragile parts in PV systems that contribute to a majority of system downtime. With the demand to further reduce the cost of PV energy, the reliability of power electronics in PV systems needs to be improved to reduce the (unexpected) failure in field operation. This calls for a better design methodology as well as a proper control strategy.

This PhD course aims to address the reliability challenge and solution for power electronics in PV applications. It will cover the design aspects related to power electronics reliability for PV systems. A step-by-step modeling approach from mission profile to the reliability performance (e.g., failure rates) will be introduced. The reliability of key components such as power devices and dc-link capacitors will be elaborated in details, and solutions to enhance their reliability through the design and control methods will be discussed and demonstrated. Moreover, emerging solutions and new technology to further enhance the reliability performance of the power electronics in PV applications will be also be covered in the lecture.

Day 1:

1. Lecture 1: Introduction of Reliability of PV inverters (4 hours, ARS)
   1. Power electronics in PV application
   2. Reliability engineering for power electronics
2. Lecture 2: Design for Reliability of PV inverters (4 hours, ARS)
   1. Mission profile-based reliability evaluation of PV inverters
   2. Parameter variation

Day 2:

1. Lecture 3: Reliability of DC-link capacitors in PV inverters (4 hours, HAO)
   1. Reliability of DC-link in PV application
   2. Passive DC-link: Modeling, design, and optimizations
   3. Active DC-link: Semiconducting dc-link capacitors
2. Lecture 4: Methods to enhance reliability of PV inverters (4 hours, ARS)
   1. Reliability testing of PV inverter
   2. Control for reliability of PV inverter
   3. Emerging Technologies and Trends

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge of power electronics circuit and electrical engineering. Basic knowledge of circuit simulation software, e.g., Matlab/Simulink, PLECS

Form of evaluation:

Report from the exercise session during the class