Thermal test method for high power three-phase grid-connected inverters

Balasubramanian, Arun Karuppaswamy and John, Vinod (2015) Thermal test method for high power three-phase grid-connected inverters. In: IET POWER ELECTRONICS, 8 (9). pp. 1670-1680.

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Abstract

Semiconductor device junction temperatures are maintained within datasheet specified limits to avoid failure in power converters. Burn-in tests are used to ensure this. In inverters, thermal time constants can be large and burn-in tests are required to be performed over long durations of time. At higher power levels, besides increased production cost, the testing requires sources and loads that can handle high power. In this study, a novel method to test a high power three-phase grid-connected inverter is proposed. The method eliminates the need for high power sources and loads. Only energy corresponding to the losses is consumed. The test is done by circulating rated current within the three legs of the inverter. All the phase legs being loaded, the method can be used to test the inverter in both cases of a common or independent cooling arrangement for the inverter phase legs. Further, the method can be used with different inverter configurations - three- or four-wire and for different pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques. The method has been experimentally validated on a 24 kVA inverter for a four-wire configuration that uses sine-triangle PWM and a three-wire configuration that uses conventional space vector PWM.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	IET POWER ELECTRONICS
Publisher:	INST ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY-IET
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the INST ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY-IET, MICHAEL FARADAY HOUSE SIX HILLS WAY STEVENAGE, HERTFORD SG1 2AY, ENGLAND
Department/Centre:	Division of Electrical Sciences > Electrical Engineering
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2015 07:02
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2015 07:02
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/52438

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