Modular converter system reliability & performance analysis in design

Converter system plays an important role in power drive train of a wind turbine. In order to achieve higher reliability, the modular concept is popularly utilized in converter system design in modern wind turbines. A converter module can be a channel composed of AC/DC/AC or a module composed of AC/DC or DC/AC. AC/DC module can be used on either generator side or grid side which depends on system operation. This is the full-modular concept in converter system design. This paper is focused on modular converter system reliability and performance analysis in design. Markov model is applied to system reliability modeling. Six system modules are studied, in which a converter module is an AC/DC or DC/AC module. The system reliability and performance indices serve as guideline in system module selection in design.