Accelerated testing of module-level power electronics for long-term reliability

Journal Article · Thu Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2016 · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2016.2621339· OSTI ID:1333376

Flicker, Jack David ^[1]; Tamizhmani, Govindasamy ^[2]; Moorthy, Mathan Kumar ^[3]; Thiagarajan, Ramanathan ^[3]; Ayyanar, Raja ^[3]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. TUV Rheinland PTL, Tempe, AZ (United States); Arizona State Univ., Mesa, AZ (United States)
3. Arizona State Univ., Mesa, AZ (United States)

This work has applied a suite of long-term-reliability accelerated tests to a variety of module-level power electronics (MLPE) devices (such as microinverters and optimizers) from five different manufacturers. This dataset is one of the first (only the paper by Parker et al. entitled “Dominant factors affecting reliability of alternating current photovoltaic modules,” in Proc. 42nd IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., 2015, is reported for reliability testing in the literature), as well as the largest, experimental sets in public literature, both in the sample size (five manufacturers including both dc/dc and dc/ac units and 20 units for each test) and the number of experiments (six different experimental test conditions) for MLPE devices. The accelerated stress tests (thermal cycling test per IEC 61215 profile, damp heat test per IEC 61215 profile, and static temperature tests at 100 and 125 °C) were performed under powered and unpowered conditions. The first independent long-term experimental data regarding damp heat and grid transient testing, as well as the longest term (>9 month) testing of MLPE units reported in the literature for thermal cycling and high-temperature operating life, are included in these experiments. Additionally, this work is the first to show in situ power measurements, as well as periodic efficiency measurements over a series of experimental tests, demonstrating whether certain tests result in long-term degradation or immediate catastrophic failures. Lastly, the result of this testing highlights the performance of MLPE units under the application of several accelerated environmental stressors.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
• Grant/Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1333376
• Report Number(s): SAND2016-7976J; 646674
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics; ISSN 2156-3381
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
14 SOLAR ENERGY
reliability
Accelerated life test
microinverter (MI)
module-level power electronics (MLPE)
optimizer
photovoltaics (PV)