Title :
A thermal management approach to fault-resilient design of three-level IGCT-based NPC converters
Author :
Rocha, Anderson V. ; De Paula, Hélder ; Santos, Manoel E dos ; Filho, Braz J Cardoso
Author_Institution :
Postgraduaduate Program in Electr. Eng., UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Abstract :
The three-level converter with neutral point clamped (NPC), introduced by Nabae in 1981, has become the most popular converter topology for high and medium-voltage industrial drives, being widely commercialized by major manufacturers worldwide. Responsible for driving key processes in various industries, high availability of these converters is mandatory, since their maintenance or replacement imply downtimes incompatible with the requirements of the production processes. Considering the possibility of failures in the protection schemes, this paper discusses a fault-resilient design for IGCT-based NPC converters based on proper thermal management of the power semiconductors. The main goal is show that the thermal stress caused by the short-circuit currents can be managed, improving the selectivity and tracing of the damaged components, thus reducing the overall converter downtime and the maintenance costs.
Keywords :
fault diagnosis; maintenance engineering; power convertors; short-circuit currents; thermal stresses; fault-resilient design; maintenance costs; medium-voltage industrial drives; power semiconductors; production processes; protection schemes; short-circuit currents; thermal management approach; thermal stress; three-level IGCT-based NPC converters; Capacitors; Discharges (electric); Inverters; Rectifiers; Semiconductor diodes; Stress; Thermal stresses;
Conference_Titel :
Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2012 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Raleigh, NC
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-0802-1
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4673-0801-4
DOI :
10.1109/ECCE.2012.6342607
