A PSIM-Based Tool for Quick Failure Rate Estimation for a DC-DC Converter

We are witnessing nowadays an increasing attention to reliability aspects in electronic circuits, especially in the field of Power Electronics. Practitioners in particular have increasingly found a need for rapid evaluation of two fundamental metrics of reliability, MTBF and failure rate. This paper proposes a tool for quick estimation of changes in the lifetime or reliability of a dc-dc converter when various design parameters are changed in practice. This is useful for critical power systems since it allows the maintenance planning when lifetime, reliability, or MTBF changes due to inappropriate use of the dc/dc converter. Experimental validation uses for validation a demo board with a Point-of-Load converter type POL-EVB-514390 from Silicon labs, which is equipped with n-channel MOSFETs HAT2185 from Renesas Semiconductor. Tests included variation in load current and switching frequency. The simulation section uses certain dedicated thermal models from the PSIM simulation program library.