Accelerated Insulation Aging Due to Fast, Repetitive Voltages: A Review Identifying Challenges and Future Research Needs

TL;DR

This review discusses how fast, repetitive voltages from wide bandgap power systems accelerate insulation aging, highlighting current challenges, technical gaps, and future research directions for improved insulation durability.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding insulation degradation under high slew rates and switching frequencies in WBG-based power systems, addressing a gap in existing research.

Findings

Insulation degradation accelerates with increased voltage slew rate and frequency.

Current studies are limited to low slew rates, not applicable to next-generation systems.

Identifies key research gaps for insulation design in fast, repetitive voltage environments.

Abstract

Although the adverse effects of using power electronic conversion on the insulation systems used in different apparatuses have been investigated, they are limited to low slew rates and repetitions. These results cannot be used for next-generation wide bandgap (WBG) based conversion systems targeted to be fast (with a slew rate up to 100 kV/us) and operate at a high switching frequency up to 500 kHz. Frequency and slew rate are two of the most important factors of a voltage pulse, influencing the level of degradation of the insulation systems that are exposed to such voltage pulses. The paper reviews challenges concerning insulation degradation when benefitting from WBG-based conversion systems with the mentioned slew rate and switching frequency values and identifies technical gaps and future research needs. The paper provides a framework for future research in dielectrics and electrical insulation design for systems under fast, repetitive voltage pluses originated by WBG-based conversion systems.