Exploring the Causes of Power-Converter Failure in Wind Turbines based on Comprehensive Field-Data and Damage Analysis

Katharina Fischer, Karoline Pelka, Sebastian Puls, Max-Hermann Poech, Axel Mertens, Arne Bartschat, Bernd Tegtmeier, Christian Broer and Jan Wenske
Additional contact information
Katharina Fischer: Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (Fraunhofer IWES), 30159 Hannover, Germany
Karoline Pelka: Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (Fraunhofer IWES), 30159 Hannover, Germany
Sebastian Puls: Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (Fraunhofer ISIT), 25524 Itzehoe, Germany
Max-Hermann Poech: Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (Fraunhofer ISIT), 25524 Itzehoe, Germany
Axel Mertens: Institute for Drive Systems and Power Electronics IAL, Leibniz University Hannover, 30167 Hannover, Germany
Arne Bartschat: Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (Fraunhofer IWES), 30159 Hannover, Germany
Bernd Tegtmeier: Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (Fraunhofer IWES), 30159 Hannover, Germany
Christian Broer: Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (Fraunhofer IWES), 30159 Hannover, Germany
Jan Wenske: Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (Fraunhofer IWES), 30159 Hannover, Germany

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-27

Abstract: Power converters are among the most frequently failing components of wind turbines. Despite their massive economic impact, the actual causes and mechanisms underlying these failures have remained in the dark for many years. In view of this situation, a large consortium of three research institutes and 16 companies, including wind-turbine and component manufacturers, operators and maintenance-service providers has joined forces to identify the main causes and driving factors of the power-converter failures in wind turbines to create a basis for effective remedial measures. The present paper summarizes and discusses the results of this research initiative, which have been achieved through the evaluation of converter-specific failure and operating data of a large and diverse worldwide wind-turbine fleet, field measurements as well as post-mortem investigation of returned converter components. A key conclusion of the work is that the thermal-cycling induced fatigue of bond-chip contacts and die-attach solder, which is a known issue in other fields of power-electronics applications and which has been widely assumed to be the principle damage mechanisms also in wind turbines, is no relevant contributor to the observed converter failures in this application. Instead, the results indicate that environmental factors such as humidity and contamination but also design and quality issues as well as human errors play an important part in the incidence of these failures.

Keywords: reliability; power electronics; power converter; wind power; root-cause analysis; post-mortem analysis; field data (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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