Reliability modeling and evaluation of MMCs under different redundancy schemes

Abstract

Due to the demand for high reliability, modular multilevel converters (MMCs) are designed with redundant submodules. Redundant submodules can be integrated into the converter by employing different redundancy schemes: The conventional active scheme, the load-sharing active scheme, and the passive scheme. Different schemes have different impacts on the improvement of converter reliability. The contributions of this paper include that an analytical method is proposed to evaluate the reliability of MMCs under different redundancy schemes and the factors' influence on the converter reliability is analyzed to determine the proper redundancy scheme. Reliability models of MMCs under different redundancy schemes are built using Markov chains and the iteration method. Based on the proposed models, the effects of redundant schemes are evaluated in terms of the converter reliability. A case study is conducted to validate the feasibility and robustness of proposed models and to specify the conditions in the favor of each redundancy scheme. The benefits of sharing redundancy among arms are also explored from the reliability point of view. If insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and capacitors are dominant components in a submodule in terms of failure rates, the load-sharing active scheme performs better; otherwise, setting the redundant submodules in an idle state is more effective. It is also found that the number of required redundant submodules is greatly reduced by sharing redundancy among arms.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TPWRD.2017.2715664
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Additional Information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords: Load-sharing redundancy,modular multilevel converter,passive redundancy,redundancy scheme,reliability assessment,Energy Engineering and Power Technology,Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Publication ISSN: 1937-4208
Last Modified: 31 Oct 2024 08:33
Date Deposited: 29 Aug 2019 14:30
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://ieeexpl ... ocument/7962248 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2018-10-01
Published Online Date: 2017-06-29
Accepted Date: 2017-06-07
Authors: Guo, Jingli (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-4648-435X)
Wang, Xiuli
Liang, Jun
Pang, Hui
Goncalves, Jorge

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