Lifetime Modeling of Key Components in Power Electronics based Power Systems

In the past decades, policies has been adopted which are in favour of reversing the effects of global climate changes, and therefore technologies which do not rely on fossil fuels have seen an increase worldwide. One of the key technologies, used to obtain a sustainable energy supply, is power electronics. Along with this transition arises new challenges such as assuring a reliable power system, when the power electronic components are highly integrated in the power grid.

The overall goal of this Ph.D. project is to develop new methods for which safe and reliable operation of power systems where power electronics are highly integrated. A reliability assessment tool which integrates both the physical characteristics of the hardware components and control algorithm optimization at system level is needed. An effort to gain an understanding of the mutual interactions of power electronic converters, will be made while considering different mission profiles and configurations of power converters.

The key components which has a major contribution to the overall lifetime degradation will be extracted in order to obtain an understanding of the lifetime characteristics of both single and multiple converters. Having extracted the key components will result in a modelling and analysis simplification of complex power electronic converter systems moreover, it will serve as a functional insight in which ways the power electronic based power system can be improved and extended in terms of reliability.

Funding: Villum Fonden.