IEEE Access (Jan 2024)
IoT-Based IGBT Power Module Health Monitoring System With RUL Estimation for Electric Drive Applications
Abstract
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) is a crucial and sensitive component in electric motor drive applications, and its reliability has gained significant research attention. Estimating the remaining life of converter IGBTs is essential for enhancing the safety and dependability of these applications while minimizing maintenance costs. Most of the existing work in the literature concentrated on accelerated age testing on a single IGBT switch or module. However, in a practical environment, various operational parameters affect the life of IGBT-based converters. This paper proposes a novel framework to estimate the IGBT power module’s remaining useful lifetime (RUL) and enable failure prediction. This method can also be employed as a converter design method or an online lifetime estimation scheme when applied to real systems. To validate the developed technique, it is applied to a direct torque-controlled induction motor drive in the PLECS hardware-in-loop system. The load/mission profile is generated with a 3.7 kW induction motor driven by a three-phase 2-level voltage source inverter (3-phase 2L VSI). The temperature of the IGBT is estimated based on a time-dependent temperature calculation, and hence the depreciation of the IGBT power device is anticipated. The outcome of the research reveals realistic information on significant influences on the 3-phase 2L VSI’s lifetime under various operational range characteristics. The outcome of the research reveals realistic information about the key factors that affect the 3-phase 2L VSI’s lifetime during changes in operational conditions. From the RUL results, the load current and switching frequency variations influence the remaining life of the power devices in the electric drive system. Finally, a Matlab GUI application is created to estimate the inverter’s lifetime, based on junction temperature data from a specific mission profile. The proposed system also incorporates the IoT real-time temperature monitoring of the IGBT power module and heat sink under various operating conditions IM drive.
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