Experimental Assessment of Derating Guidelines Applied to Power Electronics Converters

 

S. E. De León-Aldaco*¹, J. H. Calleja-Gjumlich², H. R. Jiménez-Grajales³, F. I. Chan-Puc⁴

 

¹ Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica Centro Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico Cuernavaca, Mor., México. *susana.deleon@cenidet.edu.mx.

² Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica Centro Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico Cuernavaca, Mor., México.

³ Gerencia de Energías no Convencionales Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas Cuernavaca, Mor., México.

⁴ División de Ciencias e Ingeniería Universidad de Quintana Roo Chetumal, Q. Roo., México.

 

ABSTRACT

Power transistors are the most vulnerable components in switching converters, and derating is usually applied to increase their reliability. In this paper, the effectiveness of derating guidelines is experimentally assessed using a push-pull DC-DC converter as a case study, operating in three different environments. After measuring the electrical variables and temperature, reliability was predicted following the guidelines in MIL HDBK 217F. The sensitivity analysis performed indicates that temperature has the largest impact on reliability, followed by environment and device quality. The results obtained demonstrate that a derating procedure based solely on DC ratings does not ensure an adequate performance. Therefore, additional guidelines are suggested to help increase the overall reliability obtained from a power circuit.

Keywords: reliability, derating, power converters.

 

RESUMEN

En convertidores conmutados, los transistores de potencia son los componentes más vulnerables; para mejorar su confiabilidad es común el empleo de técnicas de sobre-dimensionamiento. En este artículo, la efectividad del sobredimensionamiento se valora de manera experimental, utilizando un convertidor CD-CD tipo push-pull como caso de estudio, operando en tres ambientes diferentes. La confiabilidad se predijo siguiendo el procedimiento en el MIL HDBK 217F, utilizando las mediciones de las variables eléctricas y temperatura. El análisis de sensitividad indica que la temperatura tiene el mayor impacto en la confiabilidad, seguido por el ambiente y la calidad de los dispositivos. Los resultados demuestran que un proceso de sobredimensionamiento basado únicamente en las especificaciones de CD no garantiza un comportamiento adecuado. Se proponen lineamientos adicionales para aumentar la confiabilidad de los circuitos de potencia.

 

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