Electret Based Mitigation of Partial Discharge in PWM Inverter Driven System

The electrification of transport is driven by the advances in power electronics. However, electrical systems driven by pulse width modulated (PWM) voltage waveforms experience increase in partial discharge (PD) due to the fast slew rate and switching frequency of power electronic converters (PECs). To address this dielectric challenge, our group has developed and reported an electret-based PD mitigation method that significantly reduces PD in PEC-driven applications. In this study, the electret-based PD mitigation approach is used to reduce PD caused by sinusoidal PWM (SPWM) voltage waveform. PD measurements are conducted without and with the incorporation of electret films that are fabricated via the triode corona charging method. The proposed electret-based solution to PD is expected to secure the dielectric integrity of the power-electronics-driven electrification of transport.