Mission profile resolution impacts on the thermal stress and reliability of power devices in PV inverters

The operating conditions and reliability of Photovoltaic (PV) inverters are strongly affected by their mission profile. Since the mission profile of the PV system can vary considerably, the time-resolution of the mission profile becomes an important factor in the reliability prediction. In this paper, the impacts of mission profile resolutions on the reliability of the PV inverters are investigated. The results indicate that the mission profile resolution can deviate the reliability prediction considerably, especially during the fluctuating solar irradiance condition, and care must be taken during the reliability assessment.