A questionnaire survey was carried out to determine the industrial requirements and expectations of reliability in power electronic converters. The survey was subjective and conducted with a number of high-profile semiconductor manufacturers, integrators, and users in the aerospace, automation, motor drive, utility power, and other industry sectors. According to the survey, power semiconductor devices ranked the most fragile components. It was concluded that main stresses were from the environment, transients, and heavy loads, which should be considered during power electronic system design and normal operation. This paper has also highlighted that there is a significant need identified by the responders for better reliability-monitoring methods and indicators.

An Industry-Based Survey of Reliability in Power Electronic Converters

Condition monitoring (CM) has already been proven to be a cost effective means of enhancing reliability and improving customer service in power equipment, such as transformers and rotating electrical machinery. CM for power semiconductor devices in power electronic converters is at a more embryonic stage; however, as progress is made in understanding semiconductor device failure modes, appropriate sensor technologies, and signal processing techniques, this situation will rapidly improve. This technical review is carried out with the aim of describing the current state of the art in CM research for power electronics. Reliability models for power electronics, including dominant failure mechanisms of devices are described first. This is followed by a description of recently proposed CM techniques. The benefits and limitations of these techniques are then discussed. It is intended that this review will provide the basis for future developments in power electronics CM.

Condition Monitoring for Device Reliability in Power Electronic Converters: A Review

Recent growth of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module market has been driven largely by the increasing demand for an efficient way to control and distribute power in the field of renewable energy, hybrid/electric vehicles, and industrial equipment. For safety-critical and mission-critical applications, the reliability of IGBT modules is still a concern. Understanding the physics-of-failure of IGBT modules has been critical to the development of effective condition monitoring (CM) techniques as well as reliable prognostic methods. This review paper attempts to summarize past developments and recent advances in the area of CM and prognostics for IGBT modules. The improvement in material, fabrication, and structure is described. The CM techniques and prognostic methods proposed in the literature are presented. This paper concludes with recommendations for future research topics in the CM and prognostics areas.

Physics-of-Failure, Condition Monitoring, and Prognostics of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor Modules: A Review

In this paper a physical model for lifetime estimation of standard power modules is proposed. The lifetime prediction is based on the assumption that the solder interconnections are the weakest part of the module assembly and that the failure cause is the inelastic deformation energy accumulated within the solder material. Unlike the well-known Coffin-Manson model, the proposed model can be used to physically explain the dependency of lifetime on the various properties of a temperature profile i.e. frequency, dwell-ramp time, minimum/maximum temperature. The model is based on Clech's algorithm for simulation of stress-strain solder response under cyclical thermal loading and on the solder deformation mechanism map used to define the dominant failure mechanism under observed stress-temperature conditions. Either accelerated cycling tests or existing field databases are needed to parameterize the model. To verify the approach, the results of power cycling tests for a high power IGBT module found in literature are applied and the impacts of two mission profiles on the module lifetime are examined.

New physical model for lifetime estimation of power modules

The rapid consumption of fossil fuel and increased environmental damage caused by it have given a strong impetus to the growth and development of fuel-efficient vehicles. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have evolved from their inchoate state and are proving to be a promising solution to the serious existential problem posed to the planet earth. Not only do HEVs provide better fuel economy and lower emissions satisfying environmental legislations, but also they dampen the effect of rising fuel prices on consumers. HEVs combine the drive powers of an internal combustion engine and an electrical machine. The main components of HEVs are energy storage system, motor, bidirectional converter and maximum power point trackers (MPPT, in case of solar-powered HEVs). The performance of HEVs greatly depends on these components and its architecture. This paper presents an extensive review on essential components used in HEVs such as their architectures with advantages and disadvantages, choice of bidirectional converter to obtain high efficiency, combining ultracapacitor with battery to extend the battery life, traction motors’ role and their suitability for a particular application. Inclusion of photovoltaic cell in HEVs is a fairly new concept and has been discussed in detail. Various MPPT techniques used for solar-driven HEVs are also discussed in this paper with their suitability.

/pdf/a-comprehensive-review-on-hybrid-electric-vehicles-3pxjmbw5qy.pdf

A comprehensive review on hybrid electric vehicles: architectures and components

Advanced IGBT modules for railway traction applications : Reliability testing

The requirements for the reliability of electronic circuits becomes constantly higher. Therefore, in particular, the strongly growing automotive industry will be influenced, where the number of electronic circuits and the installed power is constantly increasing. Meanwhile for example a hybrid vehicle can be powered by an electrical system with more than 100 kW. The increasing power density of these circuits and the use of the components at higher ambient temperatures lead to the fact that the electronic components will heat up more and more. Additionally the further integration of electronic components requires a higher reliability of single semiconductors. With higher complexity it is more and more a challenge to prove the total reliability of these circuits by accelerated tests. Siemens has been working on the reliability of high temperature applications for years. This article describes a simulation concept, which calculates the crack propagation speed of bond and solder joint connections. Input parameters for the simulation are: Material properties, geometry and different stress types as current loads or temperature. This procedure is demonstrated on the basis of the power electronics for a hybrid drive system.

Reliability of High Temperature Inverters for HEV

On-chip reliability investigations on power modules actually working in inverter systems

Die
Erfindung betrifft ein induktives Bauelement (1) zur Bildung eines
magnetischen Kreises, das mindestens eine Drahtwicklung (3) und
mindestens eine Kuhlvorrichtung
(20) zum Kuhlen
der Drahtwicklung aufweist Das induktive Bauelement ist dadurch
gekennzeichnet, dass die Kuhlvorrichtung
mindestens einen Verbundwerkstoff mit mindestens einem Polymerwerkstoff und
mindestens einem thermisch leitfahigen
Fullstoff
aufweist Mit Hilfe der Kuhlvorrichtung
kann eine Warme
effizient abgeleitet werden, die in der Drahtwicklung im Betrieb des
induktiven Bauelements entsteht Fur eine Hochfrequenzanwendung
wird insbesondere eine Drahtwicklung mit einer Hochfrequenzlitze
und ein Kern mit einem hochfrequenztauglichen Kernmaterial fur das induktive
Bauelement verwendet Dadurch ist ein miniaturisiertes induktives Bauelement
zuganglich,
das auch bei einem hohen Leistungsdurchsatz eine hohe Gute Q und
damit niedrige elektrische Verluste aufweist Das induktive Bauelement
wird in einem sogenannten elektronischen Vorschaltgerat (EVG) im
Beleuchtungsbereich eingesetzt

Induktives Bauelement mit Kühlvorrichtung und Verwendung des Bauelements

The invention relates to an inductive component (1), for the formation of a magnetic circuit, with at least one wire winding (3) and at least one cooling device (20), for cooling the wire winding. The inductive component is characterised in that the cooling device comprises at least one composite material with at least one polymer material and at least one thermally-conducting filler. Heat generated in the wire winding during operation of the inductive component can be efficiently removed by means of the cooling device. For high frequency applications, a wire winding made with a high frequency litz wire and a core made from a high-frequency core material are particularly used. A miniaturised inductive component is thus possible which has a high Q value, even with a high power throughput and thus has low electrical losses. The inductive component is of application in so-called electronic ballast devices in lighting equipment.

Eckhard Prof. Wolfgang

Papers

Advanced IGBT modules for railway traction applications : Reliability testing

Reliability of High Temperature Inverters for HEV

On-chip reliability investigations on power modules actually working in inverter systems

Induktives Bauelement mit Kühlvorrichtung und Verwendung des Bauelements

Inductive component with a cooling device and use of said component