Fuzzy Lifetime Analysis of a Fault-Tolerant Two-Phase Interleaved Converter

Abstract: Interleaved converters are used in photovoltaic (PV) applications to handle high power conditions with high reliability. To improve the reliability of these converters, redundant switch configuration can be employed which reduce the failure rates of the power switches significantly. However, evaluation reliability of the interleaved converters equipped with redundant switch configurations may be complex. This paper aims to simplify the reliability Analysis of interleaved converters considering mission profile and redundant switch configuration. Different possible configurations of the studied converter are shown as Markov chain states in the proposed method, which simplify the reliability and failure rates Analysis. The effect of different parameters such as the converter power level, switch configuration type, and operation modes are derived and a better insight into the effectiveness of the switch configuration on improving the reliability is provided.