Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZMThe power4re project is about developing effective solutions to increase the reliability and robustness of converters for decentralized electrical energy conversion.
The inverters used for grid feed-in in solar parks and frequency converters in wind turbines (hereafter simplified: converters) are exposed to particularly challenging operating and environmental conditions. Today, they are among the most frequently failing plant components and thus cause considerable costs in some cases. In power4re, material, process and structural optimizations as well as protection concepts for converter components are developed to meet the high demands of these two applications. The focus is on application-specific weak points, which can be determined from comprehensive field data and damage analyses and whose failure mechanisms - often caused by the combination of climatic and electrical stress - are to be researched in greater detail within the project. For this purpose, the consortium has at its disposal as unique selling points an already unique field data stock from wind energy applications, defect components and access to photovoltaic and wind energy plants for field measurements. The project will also develop suitable test procedures for evaluating materials, design modifications and protection concepts, and for ensuring component reliability. A high disruptive potential lies in the intended development of condition monitoring focused on the relevant failure mechanisms, which can revolutionize the maintenance of converters, which has so far been limited to a run-to-failure strategy.
Duration: 2020/03/01 - 2023/02/28
Funded by: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft
Project partners: Fraunhofer IWES, Fraunhofer IISB, Fraunhofer IMWS, Fraunhofer ISE