The increasing reliability performance of next generation Photovoltaic
inverters has been sparked across the entire world, which
tends to guarantee up to 20 years lifetime. Switching devices
have become a key topic in terms of reliability and cost, which
lifetime is not easy predictable and measurable to date. This
project investigates the reliability analysis of IGBTs by taking
into account the long-term mission profiles (solar irradiance and
ambient temperature) and the relevant parameter variations. The
outcome is a design procedure that can be applied to estimate the
reliability of different IGBT solutions for Photovoltaic inverters
with a certain confidence level. Thus, Photovoltaic inverter designers
can select the most cost-effective IGBTs based on the
cost information and the reliability specifications, avoiding either
lack of robustness or over-design with unnecessary cost increase.