State of health estimation of power converters

摘要

Systems, methods and devices which utilize Spread Spectrum Time Domain Reflectometry (SSTDR) techniques to measure degradation of electronic components are provided. Such measurements may be implemented while the components “live” or otherwise functioning within an overall system. In one embodiment, monitoring a power converter in a high power system is accomplished. In this embodiment, degradation of components within the power converter (e.g. metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), capacitors, insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), and the like) may be monitored by processing data from reflections of an SSTDR signal to determine changes in impedance, capacitance, or any other changes that may be characteristic of components degrading. For example, an aging MOSFET may experience an increase of drain to source resistance which adds additional resistance to a current path within a power converter. Such a change is able to be analyzed monitored upon processing the reflected test signals.

主权项

1. A method for estimating the state of health of an electronic component located between a plurality of nodes, said method comprising:
placing the electronic component under test while said electronic component is in a live working condition; propagating a test signal into the electronic component, said test signal configured to be non-interfering with the functionality of the electronic component; receiving reflections of the propagated test signal from the electronic component at a testing device; and processing the reflected signal to determine at least one performance-degradation characteristic of the electronic component based on a predetermined relationship between the performance-degradation characteristic and a matrix of impedances indicative of impedance between each of the plurality of nodes, wherein processing the reflected signal comprises generating the matrix of impedances between the plurality of nodes based on the received reflections.