A practical application of the response surface methodology to power electronics failure prediction

This study deals with a simulation and data processing method for health monitoring of a power electronics device. A typical approach to power electronics lifetime assessment is to run accelerated ageing tests and statistical methods to determine a mean time to failure for a given mission profile. Using safety coefficients, an expected service life is then known for a given unit. Depending on the consistency of the test protocol with the in-use ageing rate, lifetime predictions can be substantially different from the component actual lifespan. To manage these differences, safety coefficients and maintenance plans are implemented to assure a reliable operation and avoid failures. At due date, a device is then replaced regardless of its working ability and is considered a pure loss.