Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) Lifetime Estimation with Impulse-Based Testing in PV Inverter Systems

Conference · Sun Jun 26 04:00:00 EDT 2022 · 2022 IEEE 13th International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/pedg54999.2022.9923107· OSTI ID:1898537

Men, Yuxi ^[1]; Lu, Xiaonan ^[2]; Zhang, Zheyu ^[3]; Thiagarajan, Ramanathan ^[4]

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1. Purdue University,School of Engineering Technology,West Lafayette,IN,USA; Purdue University
2. Purdue University,School of Engineering Technology,West Lafayette,IN,USA
3. Clemson University,College of Engineering,Clemson,SC,USA
4. National Renewable Energy Laboratory,Golden,CO,USA

Surges caused by lightning strikes could damage electrical components in photovoltaic (PV) systems. Metal oxide varistors (MOVs) are commonly used to protect PV systems from lightning strikes. This paper proposes a holistic impulse-based MOV lifetime estimation framework. The impacts of peak current and fault duration induced by lightning events are considered in the MOV lifetime estimation framework. Moreover, the impact of different parameter combinations on MOV lifetime estimation is analyzed. The effectiveness of the proposed work is validated in a PV inverter test system developed in MATLAB/Simulink.

• Research Organization: Clemson University
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: EE0009348
• OSTI ID: 1898537
• Report Number(s): DOE-CLEMSON-11113-2
• Conference Information: Journal Name: 2022 IEEE 13th International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems (PEDG)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English