Dominant factors affecting reliability of alternating current photovoltaic modules

Parker, T. Paul; Chapman, P.L.; Gilchrist, Phil

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2015.7356428

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Since MLPE units experience thermal stress during daytime operation, the ambient thermal data only included daytime hourly average temperatures. It is evident from [19,23,40] that the MLPE unit temperature is approximately 20 °C higher than the ambient one during field operation. The higher MLPE temperature can be attributed to the unit's physical orientation and proximity to the PV modules and the air gap between the surface of the rooftop and the module.…”

Section: The Proportionality Factor Ementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Despite their benefits, MLPE devices have distinct disadvantages compared to traditional inverter systems. Their exposure to extreme environments during the day due to their proximity to PV modules in actual field conditions can reduce their efficiency [17,18] and negatively impact their reliability [19], which can contribute to failures [20]. Moreover, customers expect MLPE service life and warranties equivalent to PV modules (25 years) since, in most cases, MLPE units are sold paired with the modules.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While most of the reliability studies conducted focus on the performance of MLPE units [21,22], few have conducted accelerated tests. These include work [19] that conducted MLPE testing for a short-term (1000 h) and [23] that conducted a range of accelerated testing protocols, including static temperature testing on various MLPE topologies for a mid-term (nearly 3500 h) reliability on a limited number of microinverter units. However, ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reliability of Microinverters for Photovoltaic Systems: High-Temperature Accelerated Testing with Fixed and Cyclic Power Stresses

Afridi,

Tatapudi,

Flicker

et al. 2023

Energies

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This paper presents an extended, accelerated reliability evaluation of forty microinverters, module-level power electronic (MLPE) units for photovoltaic (PV) modules. The forty microinverters were stressed at two static temperatures (65 °C and 75 °C) with two input power profiles (fixed and cyclic power). These power profiles were employed to replicate field-use conditions closely. The accelerated testing was performed for an extended duration (over a period of 15,000 h) to determine the acceleration factor and estimate the service life of microinverters in field-use conditions. Electrical performance and thermal data were continuously monitored during the experiment for all the microinverters. The accelerated stress testing had no failures even after 15,000 h of operation. Using the Arrhenius life-stress model along with average field-measured temperature and military handbook-based analysis, it was estimated that the microinverters should be able to survive for 24–48 years during their service life in field conditions, with a reliability of 74%, having a lower one-sided confidence bound of 95%, obtained using the classical success run approach. Moreover, the lifetime of microinverters was statistically analyzed using a Weibull distribution model. Weibull slope factors were used to estimate a range of characteristic lifetime periods and the reliability of the microinverters with a 95% lower one-sided confidence limit, demonstrating a similar or even exceeding the lifetime of the associated PV modules of 25 years.

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Section: The Proportionality Factor Ementioning

confidence: 96%