Reliability of Power Electronic Converter Systems

The reliability of power electronic systems is a major concern because these systems are exposed to harsh environments, high stresses, and variable loads caused by the increasing proliferation of renewable power generation.

Real-time monitoring of aging and performance is becoming increasingly important. Monitoring the performance of power electronic devices helps identifying potential problems before they cause system failure, thus increasing the reliability and longevity of these systems.

This second edition follows new developments in converter and power electronics research and development. Coverage includes anomaly detection and prognostics, DC-link capacitors, lifetime modelling and prediction, reliability of packaging, active thermal control, test and state monitoring, stochastic hybrid systems models, wind turbine power electronics, adjustable speed drives, reliability analysis for wind and PV power, power supplies for computers, as well as high-power converters. Chapters have been carefully updated as required, and new content has been added on device-level technology.

Offering readers a deeper understanding of the components that form a power electronic system, from the device to system level, this book is aimed at researchers and research professionals across academia, industry and at grid operators, as well as senior students in the field.

Henry Shu-Hung Chung is a chair professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong. He also serves as director of the Centre for Smart Energy Conversion and Utilization Research and is EiC or board member of key journals. His awards include the 2021 IEEE Power Electronics Society Award and the Outstanding Research Award of Hong Kong CityU 2020. He holds 80 patents. His research focus includes smart grids, renewable energy conversion, and application of AI in power electronics.

Huai Wang is a professor at AAU Energy at Aalborg University, Denmark. He participated in research stays at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America, and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland. He has received several academic awards, including Green Talents Award 2014. His research covers power electronics and transistors, inverters, power semiconductors and thermal resistance. He has already authored or co-authored 355 publications.

Frede Blaabjerg is a professor at AAU Energy at Aalborg University, Denmark. Prior he was with ABB-Scandia and joined Aalborg University in 1995. His current research interests include power electronics and its applications such as in wind turbines, PV systems, reliability, Power-2-X, and power quality. He has published more than 800 journal papers and edited or co-authored several key books. He was awarded 42 IEEE Prize Paper Awards, the Global Energy Prize in 2019, and the 2020 IEEE Edison Medal. In 2019-2020, he served as a president of the IEEE Power Electronics Society. He was nominated in 2014-2021 by Thomson Reuters to be among the 250 most-cited researchers in Engineering in the world.

Michael Pecht is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Maryland University, USA. He is the founder and director of the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering at UMD, funded by over 150 of the world's leading electronics companies. He is an IEEE fellow, an ASME fellow, an SAE fellow, and an IMAPS fellow and was editor-in-chief of Microelectronics Reliability for 16 years. He has written more than 40 books on his research areas of product reliability, development, use, and supply chain management and consults for 22 major international electronics companies. In 1999, he devised Pecht's Law providing an estimate of semiconductor device reliability trends and the requirements for accelerated testing.