Power electronics has progressively gained an important status in power generation, distribution, and consumption. With more than 70% of electricity processed through power electronics, recent research endeavors to improve the reliability of power electronic systems to comply with more stringent constraints on cost, safety, and availability in various applications. This paper serves to give an overview of the major aspects of reliability in power electronics and to address the future trends in this multidisciplinary research direction. The ongoing paradigm shift in reliability research is presented first. Then, the three major aspects of power electronics reliability are discussed, respectively, which cover physics-of-failure analysis of critical power electronic components, state-of-the-art design for reliability process and robustness validation, and intelligent control and condition monitoring to achieve improved reliability under operation. Finally, the challenges and opportunities for achieving more reliable power electronic systems in the future are discussed.

http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/etit/LEA-download/publications/2014/80629_jestpe-2013-04-0032_postprint.pdf

Transitioning to Physics-of-Failure as a Reliability Driver in Power Electronics

The aim of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technologies and their contribution to industrial control applications. Authors start by addressing various research fields which can exploit the advantages of FPGAs. The features of these devices are then presented, followed by their corresponding design tools. To illustrate the benefits of using FPGAs in the case of complex control applications, a sensorless motor controller has been treated. This controller is based on the Extended Kalman Filter. Its development has been made according to a dedicated design methodology, which is also discussed. The use of FPGAs to implement artificial intelligence-based industrial controllers is then briefly reviewed. The final section presents two short case studies of Neural Network control systems designs targeting FPGAs.

https://hal-centralesupelec.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01337007/document

FPGAs in Industrial Control Applications

Power electronics plays an important role in a wide range of applications in order to achieve high efficiency and performance. Increasing efforts are being made to improve the reliability of power electronics systems to ensure compliance with more stringent constraints on cost, safety, and availability in different applications. This paper presents an overview of the major failure mechanisms of IGBT modules and their handling methods in power converter systems improving reliability. The major failure mechanisms of IGBT modules are presented first, and methods for predicting lifetime and estimating the junction temperature of IGBT modules are then discussed. Subsequently, different methods for detecting open- and short-circuit faults are presented. Finally, fault-tolerant strategies for improving the reliability of power electronic systems under field operation are explained and compared in terms of performance and cost.

Study and Handling Methods of Power IGBT Module Failures in Power Electronic Converter Systems

This paper provides a comprehensive survey on the state-of-the-art condition monitoring and fault diagnostic technologies for wind turbines (WTs). The Part I of this survey briefly reviews the existing literature surveys on the subject, discusses the common failure modes in the major WT components and subsystems, briefly reviews the condition monitoring and fault diagnostic techniques for these components and subsystems, and specifically discusses the issues of condition monitoring and fault diagnosis for offshore WTs.

/pdf/a-survey-on-wind-turbine-condition-monitoring-and-fault-4wgcakiw07.pdf

A Survey on Wind Turbine Condition Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis—Part I: Components and Subsystems

Inverters play key roles in motor drives, flexible power transmissions, and recently grid-tied renewable energy generation units. Therefore, availability and reliability of inverters have become increasingly important. Following early stage fault detections in inverters, remedial actions can extend normal operation of inverters and, in some cases, derate the system to prevent unexpected shutdowns. A remedial action typically contains a combination of hardware and software reconfigurations. The main purpose of this paper is to provide an instructive survey of existing fault-tolerance (remedial) techniques for three-phase, two-level, and multilevel inverters.

Survey of Fault-Tolerance Techniques for Three-Phase Voltage Source Inverters

This paper discusses the design, implementation, experimental validation, and performances of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based real-time power converter failure diagnosis for three-leg fault tolerant converter topologies used in wind energy conversion systems (WECSs). The developed approach minimizes the time interval between the fault occurrence and its diagnosis. We demonstrated the possibility to detect a faulty switch in less than 10 mus by using a diagnosis simultaneously based on a ldquotime criterionrdquo and a ldquovoltage criterion.rdquo To attain such a short detection time, an FPGA fully digital implementation is used. The performances of the proposed FPGA-based fault detection method are evaluated for a new fault tolerant back-to-back converter topology suited for WECS with doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). We examine the failure diagnosis method and the response of the WECS when one of the power switches of the fault tolerant back-to-back converter is faulty. The experimental failure diagnosis implementation based on ldquoFPGA in the looprdquo hardware prototyping verifies the performances of the fault tolerant WECS with DFIG.

FPGA-Based Real-Time Power Converter Failure Diagnosis for Wind Energy Conversion Systems

New digital reference current generation for shunt active power filter under distorted voltage conditions

The performances of wind energy conversion systems (WECS) heavily depend on the accurate current sensing. A sudden failure in one of the current sensors decreases the system performances. Moreover, if a fault is not detected and handled quickly, its effect leads to system disconnection. Hence, to reduce the failure rate and to prevent unscheduled shutdown, a real-time fault detection, isolation, and compensation scheme could be adopted. This paper introduces a new field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA)-based grid-side-converter current sensor fault-tolerant control for WECS with doubly fed induction generator. The proposed current sensor fault detection is achieved by a predictive model. ldquoFPGA-in-the-looprdquo and experimental results validate the effectiveness and satisfactory performances of the proposed method.

Current Sensor Fault-Tolerant Control for WECS With DFIG

The design, implementation, experimental validation and performances of a fully digital fast power switch failure detection and compensation for fault-tolerant voltage source inverters (VSIs) are discussed. The approach introduced minimises the time interval between the fault occurrence and its diagnosis. The possibility to detect a faulty switch or driver of the VSI in less than 10 µs by using simultaneously a ‘time criterion’ and a ‘voltage criterion’ is demonstrated. In order to attain this short detection time a field programmable gate array (FPGA) is used. The studied fault detection method is implemented using a FPGA and experimentally validated for a three-phase VSI used in shunt active filter case. The proposed method tested first by ‘FPGA in the loop’ prototyping has been also validated through a fully experimental active power filter which confirms the satisfactory performances of the proposed approach. Moreover, the other feature introduced in this approach is that the control scheme and the fault-tolerant scheme are both programmed in only one FPGA.

Fast power switch failure detection for fault tolerant voltage source inverters using FPGA

This paper presents a top-down design flow for design, implementation, and verification of digital controllers associated with electrical systems. In the proposed design flow, the functional description of the studied system and the detailed electronic hardware design and validation of the digital controller are performed using a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL)-based reconfigurable platform in a unique design environment. The way of using this design flow and the reconfigurable HIL platform is analyzed through a fault-tolerant shunt active power filter application. The experimental results obtained with a laboratory prototype fault-tolerant active filter demonstrate the performances and the efficiency of the proposed design flow and HIL-based reconfigurable platform.

Shahram Karimi

Papers

FPGA-Based Real-Time Power Converter Failure Diagnosis for Wind Energy Conversion Systems

New digital reference current generation for shunt active power filter under distorted voltage conditions

Current Sensor Fault-Tolerant Control for WECS With DFIG

Fast power switch failure detection for fault tolerant voltage source inverters using FPGA

An HIL-Based Reconfigurable Platform for Design, Implementation, and Verification of Electrical System Digital Controllers