A generalized approach for intelligent fault detection and recovery in power electronic systems

This paper presents a generalized approach for intelligent fault detection in power electronic converters based on correlation between faults and basic measurements. Fault recovery is then applied based on this correlation by using specific signals and quantities from existing measurements. The main purpose is for power electronic systems to cope with the notion of a smart grid and its different smart components. Existing intelligent control of power electronic systems are first overviewed. Then, short- and open-circuit faults in each power electronic component are injected in a simulation platform, and their effect on different voltage and current measurements are observed. A simple block with controlled short- and open-circuit operation is developed for this purpose. Three basic quantities are observed for each of the measured signals: 1) average value, 2) RMS value, and 3) harmonic content. Both simple logic and intelligent control are used to engage redundant components as a first step to fault recovery. A solar photovoltaic (PV) micro-inverter in stand-alone mode is used as a testing platform for this paper. Simple logic based control is presented here and shows the ability to detect several faults in the power stage. Fuzzy logic is also introduced in such an application using an example.