Reliability analysis of the optimized Y-source inverter with clamping circuit
Abstract Y-source inverter has been proposed for a few years, but it still has some drawbacks. So, many studies of related topologies have been carried out to address the issues of traditional Y-source inverter (T-YSI). This paper proposes an optimized topology of Y-source inverter to solve the problems such as discontinuous input current and dc-link voltage spikes. However, the additional circuits probably influence the electrical and thermal stress of the IGBT modules, which affect their lifetime. And the lifetime of IGBT modules contribute to the lifetime of the inverter. Thus, it is important to predict the lifetime of the inverter based on the lifetime of the IGBT module. The lifetime of the IGBT modules is predicted by using the Coffin-Manson-Arrhenius model. The thermal behaviour is obtained considering real mission profile. Then the reliability of the IGBT module in the optimized Y-source inverter with clamping circuit is derived using Weibull distribution. Finally, the lifetime of the proposed inverter is analysed by Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) based on component-level reliability.