Analysis on reliability characteristics of power electronic devices for aerial vehicles

This paper discusses the reliability characteristics of power electronic devices in aerial vehicles. Either to enable higher degree of electrification of aircrafts or to realize aircraft design with innovative configurations, the importance of electrical networks in aerial vehicles have increased. Based on an observation on the emerging roles of electrical networks in aerial vehicles, the potential challenges for power electronic devices used in such networks are identified. Based on a generalized flight profile, the thermal performance of the devices is computed to study the reliability characteristics. The study results could benefit research on similar airborne applications by introducing reliability characteristics and analysis approaches.

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