go to top scroll for more

Projects


Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/E026923/1
Title Condition Monitoring Power Electronics for Reliability (COMPERE)
Status Completed
Energy Categories Renewable Energy Sources(Wind Energy) 10%;
Not Energy Related 90%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator Professor L Ran
No email address given
School of Engineering
University of Warwick
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 01 November 2007
End Date 31 October 2010
Duration 36 months
Total Grant Value £290,409
Industrial Sectors Energy
Region West Midlands
Programme Energy : Engineering
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Professor L Ran , School of Engineering, University of Warwick (99.999%)
  Other Investigator Professor P J Tavner , Engineering, Durham University (0.001%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , Areva (0.000%)
Project Contact , Control Techniques Drives Ltd (0.000%)
Project Contact , Pektron Group Ltd (0.000%)
Project Contact , GE Aviation (0.000%)
Project Contact , Dynex Semiconductor Ltd (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract Power Electronic Converters are key elements in many safety-critical, high-reliability, electrical systems working in uncertain and harsh environments. Examples include aerospace power supplies and servo converters, marine propulsion and traction drives, and offshore renewable energy generator systems.The traditional approaches to achieve high converter reliability are to de-rate the semiconductor devices and to include redundancy in the system configuration. These approaches can increase theMean Time Between Failures of converters but will not prevent a catastrophic failure from happening. The aim of this research is to develop a new approach of monitoring the converter device degradation over a period of time and provide the ability to predict failures before they happen.The research will address the challenges of carrying out and understanding the results of key measurements in order to derive information about the internal state of the semiconductor devices in real-time operatingconditions. The mechanisms leading to the aging and failure of the devices will be investigated, and a relationship between the device condition and its terminal characteristics established. Condition monitoring techniques will be based on converter terminal electrical signals, which are interpreted together with information about the thermal and load conditions of the converter system. Experiment, and computer modelling and simulation in the thermal, low frequency and high frequency electricaldomains will be carried out to develop the condition monitoring techniques. The results will be valuable to device manufacturers, manufacturers of power electronic converters, and to the end users of such systems, particularly in critical applications
Publications (none)
Final Report (none)
Added to Database 01/01/07