from pv magazine Germany.
A joint research project between the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, Infineon Bipolar and the Technical University of Dresden has developed a semiconductor-based protection concept tailored to the specific requirements of renewable energy systems.
It is capable of generating a short circuit in less than one millisecond that remains permanently intact during the failure. The mechanism uses a combination of power switches and semiconductors to quickly and permanently generate a targeted short circuit in the event of a fault, thus protecting the components from overcurrent.
This outperforms currently-available shut down devices that are designed for conventional power generation systems, which require a shutdown time of up to 100 milliseconds.
“This is an important basis for new power electronics solutions that enable improved grid connection of renewable energies,” commented Carola Klute, who led the ‘Material Diagnostics and Reliability Analysis' sub-project at Fraunhofer IMWS in the ‘GreenGridGuard' project.
The project partners developed the protection systems by testing various demonstrator design variants, which were evaluated over the two-year project period. A chip structure with a solid connection on the anode side between a thick carrier disk and a loosely mounted contact disk on the cathode side proved to be particularly effective. This variant was subsequently further developed to optimize the component's short-circuit effectiveness.
“During the project, we were able to develop a precise understanding of the microstructural and material-mechanical mechanisms at work in the components and systems to be used,” Klute added. “We were also able to contribute our expertise in the individual development of micro-scale test procedures for different material systems, as well as in the evaluation of thermomechanical stresses.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.