Lifetime Analysis of IGBT Power Modules in Passively Cooled Tidal Turbine Converters

Faisal Wani, Udai Shipurkar, Jianning Dong, Henk Polinder, Antonio Jarquin-Laguna, Kaswar Mostafa and George Lavidas
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Faisal Wani: Maritime and Transportation Technology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Udai Shipurkar: Maritime and Transportation Technology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Jianning Dong: Electrical Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Henk Polinder: Maritime and Transportation Technology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Antonio Jarquin-Laguna: Maritime and Transportation Technology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
Kaswar Mostafa: Institute for Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3DW, UK
George Lavidas: Maritime and Transportation Technology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-22

Abstract: Thermal cycling is one of the major reasons for failure in power electronic converters. For submerged tidal turbine converters investigating this failure mode is critical in improving the reliability, and minimizing the cost of energy from tidal turbines. This paper considers a submerged tidal turbine converter which is passively cooled by seawater, and where the turbine has fixed-pitch blades. In this respect, this study is different from similar studies on wind turbine converters, which are mostly cooled by active methods, and where turbines are mostly pitch controlled. The main goal is to quantify the impact of surface waves and turbulence in tidal stream velocity on the lifetime of the converter IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) modules. The lifetime model of the IGBT modules is based on the accumulation of fatigue due to thermal cycling. Results indicate that turbulence and surface waves can have a significant impact on the lifetime of the IGBT modules. Furthermore, to accelerate the speed of the lifetime calculation, this paper uses a modified approach by dividing the thermal models into low and high frequency models. The final calculated lifetime values suggest that relying on passive cooling could be adequate for the tidal converters as far as thermal cycling is concerned.

Keywords: submerged power electronics; insulated gate bipolar transistors; lifetime estimation; passive cooling; thermal cycling; tidal turbines; turbulence; waves; active speed stall control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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