Failure analysis and reliability evaluation of modulation techniques for neutral point clamped inverters—A usage model approach

Abstract

Up to now, many modulation techniques have been proposed for neutral point clamped (NPC) inverters. In this paper, for the first time, a general methodology is applied to calculate and compare the failure analysis and reliability of NPC inverter with most commonly used control strategies. Also, the mean time to failure (MTTF) of NPC inverter is derived for different control strategies. It is demonstrated that the key feature of control strategies in determining the reliability of inverter is their loss distribution among the switches. The failure rate of components that is relevant to this study and junction temperature calculation is developed, then conduction losses and switching losses of switches for different control strategies are calculated. Finally, the most reliable control strategy is identified. Experimental results obtained have promptly justified the theoretical analysis and outlined procedure.