Reliability Challenges for Electrical and Electronics Components in Electrified Aircraft and Aerospace

Potential risks for insulation system reliability are posed in aircraft and aerospace electrical assets components by progressive electrification of most transportation means. New types and extent of stress, especially electrical and thermal, arise owing to the broad use of MV and HV power electronics combined with the need to maximize specific power. This paper deals with one of the major risks for electrical and electronic asset component reliability, that is, extrinsic aging caused by inception of partial discharges, modelling partial discharge inception as an explicit function of pressure, and proposing solution for a partial-discharge free design of insulation systems. The concept of reliability redundancy is also presented as an additional tool to maintain asset component reliability at the specified level.