Study of Capacitor & Diode Aging effects on Output Ripple in Voltage Regulators and Prognostic Detection of Failure

Objectives: To design and simulate a buck converter and detector circuit which can prognostically indicate the power supply failure. Failure of Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor (AEC) is considered as the parameter causing the power supply failure. To analyse variation of output ripple voltage due to possible changes in the Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) and effective capacitance of the capacitor and design a detector to detect the failure of power supply prognostically.Methods:  A DC-DC buck converter in SMPS topology is designed by assuming an input voltage of 12V with 3 volts possible fluctuations and an output voltage of 3.3 volts is desired. Simulation is carried out to measure the variation in output ripple voltage caused due to aging of electrolytic capacitor using TINA by Texas Instruments. A detector is also designed to compare the ripple voltage and a predefined threshold voltage so as to indicate the possible failure of Switched Mode Power Supply (SMPS) well in advance by monitoring the output ripple increase.Novelty:    Having a fault tolerant power supply is very important in safety critical applications. Here by monitoring the output ripple variation, the degradation of AEC is predicted by calculating the ESR and capacitance variation. This simple yet effective prognostic detection will support in the design of fault tolerant power supplies.Highlight: It is found that, the ripple at the output increases with aging of the electrolytic capacitor, as with time the equivalent capacitance decreases and Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) of the capacitor increases. The designed detector output is found to prognostically indicate the failure of SMPS

A Review of the Power Converter Interfaces for Switched Reluctance Machines

The use of power electronic converters is essential for the operation of Switched Reluctance Machines (SRMs). Many topologies and structures have been developed over the last years considering several specific applications for this kind of machine, improving the control strategies, performance range, fault-tolerant operation, among other aspects. Thus, due to the great importance of power electronic converters in such applications, this paper is focused on a detailed review of main structures and topologies for SRM drives. The proposed study is not limited to the classic two-level power converters topologies dedicated to the SRMs; it also presents a review about recent approaches, such as multilevel topologies and based on impedance source network. Moreover, this review is also focused on a new class of topologies associated to these machines, namely the ones with fault-tolerant capability. This new category of topologies has been a topic of research in recent years, being currently considered an area of great interest for future research work. An analysis, taking into consideration the main features of each structure and topology, was addressed in this review. A classification and comparison of the several structures and topologies for each kind of converter, considering modularity, boost capability, number of necessary switches and phases, integration in the machine design, control complexity, available voltage levels and fault-tolerant capability to different failure modes, is also presented. In this way, this review also includes a description of the presented solutions taking into consideration the reliability of the SRM drive.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

In situ diagnostics and prognostics of wire bonding faults in IGBT modules for electric vehicle drives

This paper presents a diagnostic and prognostic condition monitoring method for insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power modules for use primarily in electric vehicle applications. The wire-bond-related failure, one of the most commonly observed packaging failures, is investigated by analytical and experimental methods using the on-state voltage drop as a failure indicator. A sophisticated test bench is developed to generate and apply the required current/power pulses to the device under test. The proposed method is capable of detecting small changes in the failure indicators of the IGBTs and freewheeling diodes and its effectiveness is validated experimentally. The novelty of the work lies in the accurate online testing capacity for diagnostics and prognostics of the power module with a focus on the wire bonding faults, by injecting external currents into the power unit during the idle time. Test results show that the IGBT may sustain a loss of half the bond wires before the impending fault becomes catastrophic. The measurement circuitry can be embedded in the IGBT drive circuits and the measurements can be performed in situ when the electric vehicle stops in stop-and-go, red light traffic conditions, or during routine servicing

Assessment of partial discharge activity and conductivity in IGBT modules as a reliability index

Al giorno d’oggi l’elettronica di potenza deve essere in grado di operare in ambienti ostili e in condizioni di lavoro difficili. Il tema dell’affidabilità è diventato fondamentale quanto quello dell’efficienza. Questa tesi si focalizza sull’IGBT, in particolare sul suo sistema d’isolamento. Il primo passo è stato studiare in dettaglio i meccanismi di guasto possibili e più frequenti. Dal momento che le scariche parziali risultano essere un problema per l’affidabilità dei dielettrici solidi, in questo studio si esamina l’attività di PD su moduli IGBT nuovi ed invecchiati, in diverse configurazioni, con forme d’onda di tensione e temperature differenti. Si sono effettuate anche misure di corrente di dispersione su moduli nuovi ed invecchiati alla temperatura di lavoro. I risultati sono stati post-processati statisticamente tentando di ottenere indici di affidabilità per quei moduli. Quasi tutti i moduli invecchiati sono interessati da PD e i risultati mostrano che il PDIV, assieme ad altri fattori, è sicuramente influenzato dall’ageing. I risultati del monitoraggio della corrente di dispersione mostrano una tendenza all'aumento con l'invecchiamento. Si sono svolte anche simulazioni con software agli elementi finiti e rilevazioni ottiche di PD ed entrambe supportano i risultati ottenuti. È necessario effettuare ulteriori indagini su un data set più ampio al fine di migliorare un algoritmo di diagnostica predittiva basato sui valori di PDIV e conducibilità