Mission Profile Based Power Converter Reliability Analysis in a DC Power Electronic Based Power System

This paper investigates the reliability of power electronic converters employed for different applications in a dc power system employing a mission profile based reliability approach. The power electronic converter reliability depends on its loading profile, which induces thermal stresses on the failure-prone components, hence, limiting the converter lifetime. The loading profile of different converters in a power system is relevant to the mission profiles (including environmental and operational conditions), which can be controlled by a power management strategy. Moreover, the battery converter sizing in a renewable based power system may affect the power flow through the converters, and hence, its loading profiles. Therefore, this paper studies the impact of mission profile, power management strategy, and battery converter capacity on the reliability of different converters. The obtained results are presented through numerical analysis.