A Reliability Comparison of a Matrix Converter and an 18-Pulse Rectifier for Aerospace Applications

This paper compares the calculated reliability of a Matrix Converter with an 18-pulse rectifier/inverter topology for a typical aerospace motor drive application. The military handbook MIL-HDBK-217F guidelines have been used to predict reliability. Although the Matrix Converter has a higher number of semi-conductor switches, these switches are subjected to a lower voltage stress, which can shown to increase the device reliability. When this factor is taken into account it can be shown that the predicted reliability of the matrix converter is comparable to the more commonly used 18-pulse rectifier based system