A Comparative Reliability Study of Three Fundamental Multilevel Inverters Using Two Different Approaches
Open accessAbstract
The reliability of power electronic devices and components is very important to manufacturers. In recent years, many researchers have conducted reliability assessments of power electronic devices, yet the reliability of numerous circuits used widely has not been evaluated. This paper presents a comprehensive reliability evaluation of fundamental multilevel inverters. The reliability of the multilevel inverters is analyzed by calculating the mean time to failure for each component. The calculation was performed by two methods (approximate and exact) to achieve better comparisons. The approximate method is similar to the parts count method used in MIL-HDBK-217 reliability standard, and the exact method exhibits the parts stress method. In the exact method, due to the direct relationship between component failure and temperature, we used Matlab Simulink to determine power losses in diodes and switches taking into account the temperature factor. The results determined by the approximate method showed that the three-level cascade H-bridge was the most reliable of the inverters considered. Although the exact method validates those results, and shows that cascade H-bridge (CHB) had a longer lifespan, but the calculated values are different. Therefore, using different approaches for evaluating reliability results in different outcomes.
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CHB has the highest reliability among FC, NPC, and CHB structures.
“A comparison of reliability has been conducted in [80] between FC, NPC, and CHB structures. The large number of capacitors has resulted in the highest failure rate for FC structure, while CHB has the highest reliability between the three.”
From A Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies in Electric Vehicles: Current Status and Future Trends (2021) · cites this paper as [80]
In a reliability comparison between FC, NPC, and CHB structures, the large number of capacitors resulted in the highest failure rate for the FC structure.
“A comparison of reliability has been conducted in [80] between FC, NPC, and CHB structures. The large number of capacitors has resulted in the highest failure rate for FC structure, while CHB has the highest reliability between the three.”
From A Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies in Electric Vehicles: Current Status and Future Trends (2021) · cites this paper as [80]
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A Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies in Electric Vehicles: Current Status and Future Trends
Poorfakhraei, A., Narimani, M., & Emadi, A. (2021) · IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics · doi:10.1109/ojpel.2021.3063550 · Cited by 424 · see citing works
“conducted in [80] between FC, NPC, and CHB structures.”
BackgroundReview of SiC MOSFET based three-phase inverter lifetime prediction
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- Authors
- Alavi, O., Hooshmand Viki, A., & Shamlou, S.
- Affiliations
- K. N. Toosi University of Technology (IR)
- Department of Electrical Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, P.O. Box 16315-1355 Tehran, Iran
- Corresponding author
- Alavi, Omid
- ORCID
- Alavi, Omid
- Venue
- Electronics
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2016-04-15
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 18
- ISSN
- 2079-9292 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2335984176
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 3.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Electronics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Multilevel Inverters and Converters
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality › Reliability and Maintenance Optimization
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Silicon Carbide Semiconductor Technologies
- Keywords
- multilevel inverter, reliability analysis, mean time to failure, MIL-HDBK-217, power electronics reliability
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