Effect of reliability of wind power converters in productivity of wind turbine

Reliability modeling in terms of Reliability block diagram (RBD) of different configurations of power electronic converter has been implemented. Literature survey reveals that failure of the power electronic converters is one of the main causes of the wind turbine failure in variable speed wind turbines. Failure rate, repair rate, reliability and availability are computed for existing configuration (Case1) and proposed configurations (Case2 and Case 3) of power converters. On comparing Case1 and Case2, it shows that Case2 configuration of power converter enhances the reliability by twenty four percent in case of squirrel cage induction generator (SCIG) and twenty five percent in case of doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbines. Similarly comparing Case 1 and Case3, it shows that Case3 configuration of power converter enhances the reliability by thirty three percent in case of squirrel cage induction generator (SCIG) and thirty percent in case of doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbines. DFIG based wind turbine using Case3 configuration gives highest reliability, availability with optimum cost.