Exploring the Causes of Power-Converter Failure in Wind Turbines based on Comprehensive Field-Data and Damage Analysis

verfasst von

Katharina Fischer, Karoline Pelka, Sebastian Puls, Max Hermann Poech, Axel Mertens, Arne Bartschat, Bernd Tegtmeier, Christian Broer, Jan Wenske

Abstract

Power converters are among the most frequently failing components of wind turbines. Despite their massive economic impact, the actual causes and mechanisms underlying these failures have remained in the dark for many years. In view of this situation, a large consortium of three research institutes and 16 companies, including wind-turbine and component manufacturers, operators and maintenance-service providers has joined forces to identify the main causes and driving factors of the power-converter failures in wind turbines to create a basis for effective remedial measures. The present paper summarizes and discusses the results of this research initiative, which have been achieved through the evaluation of converter-specific failure and operating data of a large and diverse worldwide wind-turbine fleet, field measurements as well as post-mortem investigation of returned converter components. A key conclusion of the work is that the thermal-cycling induced fatigue of bond-chip contacts and die-attach solder, which is a known issue in other fields of power-electronics applications and which has been widely assumed to be the principle damage mechanisms also in wind turbines, is no relevant contributor to the observed converter failures in this application. Instead, the results indicate that environmental factors such as humidity and contamination but also design and quality issues as well as human errors play an important part in the incidence of these failures.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Antriebssysteme und Leistungselektronik

Externe Organisation(en)

Fraunhofer-Institut für Siliziumtechnologie (ISIT)
Fraunhofer-Institut für Windenergiesysteme (IWES)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

ENERGIES

Band

12

ISSN

1996-1073

Publikationsdatum

02.02.2019

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Erneuerbare Energien, Nachhaltigkeit und Umwelt, Energieanlagenbau und Kraftwerkstechnik, Energie (sonstige), Steuerung und Optimierung, Elektrotechnik und Elektronik

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 7 – Erschwingliche und saubere Energie

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.3390/en12040593 (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.15488/4722 (Zugang: Offen)