Analysis of thermal cycling stress on semiconductor devices of the Modular Multilevel Converter for drive applications

Thermal cycling stress is one of the most potential factors challenging the reliability/lifetime of semiconductor devices and cause of their failures. This paper analyzes and investigates the impacts of various control strategies on thermal cycling stress of the semiconductor devices of the Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) for drive applications. Various control strategies based on injecting a common-mode voltage and a circulating current are investigated and their impacts on power loss distribution and thermal cycling of the semiconductor devices of the MMC-based drive systems are evaluated. Simulation results in the MATLAB/SIMULINK software environment are presented to evaluate the accuracy of the analysis and impacts of three control strategies on power losses and thermal distribution of semiconductor devices of the MMC-based drive system.