You are here: Home / Applications / Wind

Wind


Double the life of your converter at lower cost.

  • Immediately reduce capacitor costs
  • Increase life and efficiency of converter
  • Increase reliability and reduce maintenance costs
  • Safely run closer to IGBT voltage rating

In wind energy systems, Power Ring Film Capacitors™ are the DC Link Capacitors used in inverters and other power conversion systems. The Power Ring Film Capacitor greatly reduces the total system cost and component complexity requirements, while increasing long-term reliability required in today’s demanding environments of the power grid. In many wind system designs, the DC Link capacitor bank is also used to provide grid connect “ride through” stability. In these cases, a large bank of capacitor storage is also required and typically coincides with the need for the DC Link.
bank-hardener
SBE’s Bank Hardener™ allows users of large micro farad banks of aluminum electrolytic, film, or super capacitors to “buffer” the bank from the DC link, high ripple current need yet still allowing to have the ride through the capability of the large bank. The result is that the overall bank of capacitors contains fewer capacitors, at much lower cost, yet extending the life of the bank by up to 2 to 3 times. In addition, the design can facilitate a substantial power increase utilizing the same volume allocated to the bank, which is perfect for the migration of tightly packed nacelles to the next power levels of 2, 4, or 6 MW.
SBE Power Ring film capacitors’ typical bus voltages range from 200V – 2000Vdc and ripple currents range from 20 – 1000 Arms at 2.5 – 20khz frequencies (See Specifications page). Lifetimes range from 200,000 to over 500,000 hours, even when utilizing aluminum electrolytic banks in conjunction with the Bank Hardener.

SBE Integrated Modules combine the benefits of the Power Ring and Bank Hardener with:

  • An optimized bus system,
  • Reduced failure points,
  • Reduced total installed labor and materials costs and
  • Increased safe IGBT power output. Up to 30% increased IGBT efficiency from the same silicon is achievable with the SBE system.