Review of health monitoring techniques for capacitors used in power electronics converters

Abstract

Capacitors are critical components of power converter systems as they influence the cost, size, performance, and scale of such systems. However, capacitors exhibit the highest degeneration and breakdown rates among all power converter components due to their wear-out failures and short lifespans. Therefore, condition monitoring is a vital process to estimate the health status of capacitors and to provide predictive maintenance for ensuring stability in the operation of power converter systems. The equivalent series resistance (ESR) and the capacitance of the capacitor are two widely used parameters for evaluating the health status of capacitors. Unlike the ESR, the capacitance of a capacitor is suitable for the health monitoring of various types of capacitors; therefore, it is more preferable for large-scale systems. This paper presents an overview of previous research addressing this aspect of capacitors and provides a better understanding of the capacitance monitoring of capacitors utilized in power converter systems. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.