Review on Reliability of Power Electronic Components in Photovoltaic Inverters

Abstract

This paper focuses on the topic of reliability analysis and lifetime evaluations for various power electronic components in a photovoltaic (PV) inverter. The basic indices used in reliability from the mathematical and customers’ points of view are discussed. The most critical components like insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), heatsinks and capacitors, which contributes in failure are identified and the mathematical indices are used to evaluate the reliability of hese components. In addition, this review identifies the failures and their causes for various components, providing an insight for keys aspects of performance enhancement. Further, different methods used for analyzing the performance and reliability are discussed for better understanding.