Lifetime analysis of two commercial PV converters using multi-year degradation modelling

This paper presents a practical method to perform multi-year degradation modeling for power electronics reliability analysis. It will present how to combine a PV mission profile simplification method with a parameter degradation feedback mechanism. The overall method is presented, along with how to characterize the parameters for the method from experimental results. The method and the characterization method are demonstrated against simulated wear-out curves based on experimental lifetime tests. The whole workflow is applied to analyze two commercial PV generator systems in order to compare the inclusion and exclusion of the degradation feedback on lifetime prediction. All model parameters are shown in the paper, and the used mission profiles will be published available online.