Stochastic performances estimate of a universal and flexible power management system for the future European electricity network

Abstract

This paper presents the final results of the

activities carried out by the authors to estimate the availability

performances of an innovative modular power conversion

architecture, developed within the UNIFLEX-PM (Universal

and Flexible Power Management) EU project. The performed

study also addresses the analysis of the effects on system

stochastic performances deriving from basic components wear

out phenomena, and the ones deriving from the adoption of

different redundancy strategies and maintenance policies. The

UNIFLEX-PM architecture represents an innovative solution

for power management in the distribution networks, thus the

reliability and availability studies have been focused on

obtaining basic figures useful to define the effectiveness of the

proposed solution through comparison with a power converter

architecture already used for building commercial products and

assumed as the reference case.