The reliability of power semiconductor switches is important when considering their vital role in power electronic converters for downhole subsea applications. Respect to technology advancements in material sciences, power MOSFETs with wide band gap materials have been proposed such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) as an alternative to existing silicon (Si) based MOSFETs and IGBTs. However, reliability analysis should be performed before substituting SiC-MOSFETs in the place of existing Si-MOSFETs and IGBTs. Due to costly equipment of experimental test setup for accelerated life test, a good reliable and precise simulation-based test bench should be used to test the life test procedure before implementing actual hardware. Therefore, this paper introduces a power cycle (PC) test bench for accelerated life testing for reliability assessment of SiC-MOSFET in harsh offshore environment. The introduced test bench is a simulation-based of power switch in SimScape and LTspice and has been validated with datasheet of 1.2 kV SiC-MOSFET, CAS300M12BM2 by CREE. Preliminary hardware circuits are also shown for further experimental tests. The captured data from the Device-Under-Test (DUT) in different ambient temperatures are envisioned and provide critical information about the failure mechanisms and lifetime characteristics of power devices. The provided lifetime characteristics data of SiC-MOSFET can be used to statistically estimate the Remaining-Useful-Lifetime (RUL) of component in a real application such as downhole motor drives.

中文翻译：

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用于加速寿命测试的功率循环测试台，用于极端海上环境下 SiC-MOSFET 的可靠性评估

考虑到功率半导体开关在用于井下海底应用的电力电子转换器中的重要作用时，功率半导体开关的可靠性很重要。考虑到材料科学的技术进步，已经提出了具有宽带隙材料的功率 MOSFET，例如碳化硅 (SiC) 和氮化镓 (GaN)，作为现有硅 (Si) 基 MOSFET 和 IGBT 的替代品。但是，在用 SiC-MOSFET 代替现有的 Si-MOSFET 和 IGBT 之前，应进行可靠性分析。由于用于加速寿命测试的实验测试装置的设备昂贵，因此在实现实际硬件之前，应使用可靠且精确的基于仿真的良好测试台来测试寿命测试程序。所以，本文介绍了一种功率循环 (PC) 测试台，用于在恶劣的海上环境中对 SiC-MOSFET 的可靠性进行加速寿命测试。引入的测试台是基于 SimScape 和 LTspice 中功率开关的仿真，并已通过 CREE 的 1.2 kV SiC-MOSFET、CAS300M12BM2 数据表进行验证。还显示了用于进一步实验测试的初步硬件电路。预想在不同环境温度下从被测设备 (DUT) 捕获的数据可提供有关功率设备故障机制和寿命特性的关键信息。提供的 SiC-MOSFET 寿命特性数据可用于统计估计实际应用中组件的剩余使用寿命 (RUL)，例如井下电机驱动器。CREE CAS300M12BM2。还显示了用于进一步实验测试的初步硬件电路。预想在不同环境温度下从被测设备 (DUT) 捕获的数据可提供有关功率设备故障机制和寿命特性的关键信息。提供的 SiC-MOSFET 寿命特性数据可用于统计估计实际应用中组件的剩余使用寿命 (RUL)，例如井下电机驱动器。CREE CAS300M12BM2。还显示了用于进一步实验测试的初步硬件电路。预想在不同环境温度下从被测设备 (DUT) 捕获的数据可提供有关功率设备故障机制和寿命特性的关键信息。提供的 SiC-MOSFET 寿命特性数据可用于统计估计实际应用中组件的剩余使用寿命 (RUL)，例如井下电机驱动器。