Comparison of power electronics lifetime between vertical‐ and horizontal‐axis wind turbines

Abstract

A comparison has been made of the power electronics lifetime for 5MW horizontaland vertical-axis wind turbines, based on dynamic models supplied with generated wind speed time series. Both two-and three-bladed stall-regulated H-rotor vertical-axis turbines were modelled, with several different control parameters. Vertical-axis turbines are likely to lead to a shorter power electronics lifetime as the aerodynamic torque varies with rotor azimuth, leading to a cyclic generator torque, and increased thermal cycling in the power electronics.An electro-thermal model of a low-voltage converter was created, and used to calculate the switching device temperatures based on the generator torque and speed time series from the turbine model. An empirical lifetime model and rainflow-counting algorithm were used to calculate the lifetime, and this was repeated at different average wind speeds to determine the overall lifetime. The vertical-axis turbine was found to have a lower power electronics lifetime than the horizontal-axis, or require a larger number of parallel switching devices to achieve the same lifetime, although this was lessened by running the turbine with a more relaxed speed control, allowing the rotor inertia to partially absorb the aerodynamic torque ripple. The three-bladed turbine was also found to give a longer power electronic lifetime than the 2-bladed, due to the lower overall torque ripple.

Optimization of Fuzzy Logic Controllers by Particle Swarm Optimization to Increase the Lifetime in Power Electronic Stages

“…Table 5 shows the calculation of TBF of the PID, fuzzy, and fuzzy-PSO controllers according to Eq. (16), and Figure 15 shows the behavior of the TBF versus temperature, where the fuzzy-PSO controller reaches a longer lifetime.…”

“…For these reason, it is important that the controller design not only considers the mechanical references such as position and velocity in the case of BLDCM, as well as the lifetime of semiconductors [10,22,23,24,33,34,35]. Hence, a great effort for predicting and improving the lifetime in semiconductors has been pushing to develop new control algorithms that help to improve the conditions in the semiconductor [16]. In this chapter, the designed controller uses an optimization process based on an objective function that takes into account the temperature of the power electronic stages in order to increase their lifetime, and tracking motor speed reference [1,10].…”

“…¼ P t Z th , P t ¼ I 2 rms R on , and Z th ¼ 2:3354F À0:165 r , and the time before failure (TBF) can be calculate in years by Eq (16)…”

Life Time Cycle in Power Electronics for Fuzzy Logic Speed Controller in Brushless Motors

“…The lifetime expectations of power electronic devices, is defined in terms of the frequency and magnitude of the thermo-stress cycles [6,8]. The consideration of these operation modes in terms of thermal stress on the design of control strategies, can extend hugely the lifetime of the power electronic devices having direct effects in economic savings [5,6,7].…”

Mejora de la Vida Útil en los Módulos de Electrónica de Potencia de un BLDCM Mediante la Optimización de un Control Difuso

“…En (Qin y Wang et al, 2015) se presentan estrategias de modulación SVPWM y DPWM, para el convertidor de potencia en un aerogenerador, esto para reducir las oscilaciones debidas a las variaciones de viento. (Andresen y Ma et al 2018), adicionalmente estas estrategias de control también consideran un control térmico activo como en (Murdock y Torres et al, 2006), así bajo estas consideraciones se puede manipular la relación entre las pérdidas de potencia debidas a la frecuencia de conmutación y la corriente de salida, lo cual se puede traducir en un incremento en el tiempo de vida (Held et al, 1997;Bayerer et al, 2008;ABB, 2014;Ma et al, 2016;Parker et al, 2016;Batunlu et al, 2016). Así, el diseño del controlador tiene un rol importante si se desea incrementar el tiempo de vida de los semiconductores, las pedidas de potencia y las condiciones de operación de los semiconductores deben ser tomadas en cuenta en el diseño del controlador (Held et al, 1997;Bayerer et al, 2008;Infineon, 2012;Fuji Electric, 2015).…”