PhD Courses in Denmark

Reliability of Power Electronics in PV Systems: Design and Control solutions

Doctoral School of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University

Power electronics are essential for power conversion of Photovoltaic (PV) systems and their reliability of power electronics systems strongly affects the availability and consequently the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of PV energy. According to field experience, the power electronics systems (e.g., PV inverter) are among the most fragile parts in PV systems that contribute to a majority of system downtime. With the demand to further reduce the cost of PV energy, the reliability of power electronics in PV systems needs to be improved to reduce the (unexpected) failure in field operation. This calls for a better design methodology as well as a proper control strategy.

This PhD course aims to address the reliability challenge and solution for power electronics in PV applications. It will cover the design aspects related to power electronics reliability for PV systems. A step-by-step modeling approach from mission profile to the reliability performance (e.g., failure rates) will be introduced. The reliability of key components such as power devices and dc-link capacitors will be elaborated in details, and solutions to enhance their reliability through the design and control methods will be discussed and demonstrated. Moreover, emerging solutions and new technology to further enhance the reliability performance of the power electronics in PV applications will be also be covered in the lecture.

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