Long-term reliability evaluation of power semiconductor devices used in power station rectifiers and substation rectifiers.

In power stations and substations of electric power companies, power semiconductor devices such as diodes and thyristors have been used in control power supplies and emergency power supplies since the 1970s. Such equipment is designed on the assumption that power semiconductor devices are semipermanent, since their service life is much longer than that of capacitors and resistors. Therefore, it is hard to find studies that have systematically examined the long-term reliability of semiconductor devices. Such studies are very important from the viewpoint of ensuring reliability and improving the renewal period by proper equipment maintenance. This paper discusses the long-term reliability of power semiconductor devices used in power station rectifiers and substation rectifiers. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 136(3): 67–75, 2001 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]