Fault detection and diagnosis of grid-connected power inverters using PCA and current mean value

One of the most used power converters is the three-phase voltage source power inverter. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to assure a continuous and safety operation of this power converter. This paper considers the application of PCA and average value computation to detect and identify faulty power switches in voltage source inverters. The PCA is applied to the inverter output currents in order to get a specific pattern that allows the identification of the fault. This results in a fast and reliable fault detection methodology. The applicability of the proposed technique is confirmed through simulation and experimental results.