Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

6-9-2016

Abstract

This manuscript details the modeling performed towards estimating lifetimes of IGBTs in PV inverters. Specifically, ambient temperature, solar irradiance, and load demand for a duration of a year were considered in modeling for a chosen integrated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) from International Rectifier. Two cases were considered in the modeling, yielding lifetimes of 29.1 years and 4.49 years. Mean time to failures (MTTF) were calculated for an H-bridge topology inverter with four IGBTs for both cases as 7.27 and 1.22 years, respectively.

Keywords

IGBT, rainflow, solar, inverter, photovoltaic, lifetime, irradiance

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Electrical Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Lehr, Jane

Second Committee Member

Graham, Edward

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