Life estimation modelling for power electronics used in wind turbines

Author

Xiao Yi ; Chong Ng ; McKeever, P. ; Little, Christian ; Hillmansen, Stuart

Author_Institution

Nat. Renewable Energy Centre, Blyth, UK

fYear

2014

fDate

8-10 April 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

Life estimation modelling has the potential to become an effective way to optimise the maintenance and replacement schedules of power electronics used in variable speed wind turbines. In this paper, a model is proposed to estimate the loss of life of power electronics in operation. This life estimation model takes into account the main types of failure mechanisms of power electronics. It incorporates the dynamic load profile under variable wind speed operation into the device lifetime deduced from manufacturers´ power cycle tests. It can be used as a method to assess the fatigue damage accumulated during the dynamic load profile and predict the end-of-life of power electronics.

Keywords

fatigue; maintenance engineering; power convertors; wind turbines; dynamic load profile; failure mechanisms; fatigue damage; life estimation model; maintenance schedules; power cycle tests; power electronics; replacement schedules; variable speed wind turbines; Condition Monitoring; End-of-Life; Fatigue; Power Electronics Converter; Wind Turbine;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

iet

Conference_Titel

Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD 2014), 7th IET International Conference on

Conference_Location

Manchester

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-84919-815-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1049/cp.2014.0407

Filename

6836868