Synchronous Switching Scheme - Bringing Modular Fault Tolerance to Power Converters

Various critical applications in domains such as electric vehicles, space technology, defence, data-centers and microgrids require high power, uninterruptible and high reliability power electronic converters. This paper focusses on developing a highly modular and topology independent fault tolerant approach, making it an attractive solution for industrial applications. The paper validates the proposed approach through PLECS simulation of a 400 V and 5 kW full-bridge forward converter, and performs hardware validation at 400 V DC bus voltage as well. Further, the paper thoroughly analyses the losses, efficiency, reliability and mean time to failure of the proposed fault tolerance solution, and proves its effectiveness across various key factors in comparison to existing approaches in literature.