Reliability evaluation of buck converter based on thermal analysis

Abstract

The design, which is based on the concept of reliability, is impressive. In power electronic circuits, the reliability design has been shown to be useful over time. Moreover, power loss in switches and diodes plays a permanent role in reliability assessment. This paper presents a reliability evaluation for a buck converter based on thermal analysis of an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and a diode. The provided thermal analysis is used to determine the switch and diode junction temperature. In this study, the effects of switching frequency and duty cycle are considered as criteria for reliability. A limit of 150°C has been set for over-temperature issues. The simulation of a 12 kW buck converter (duty cycle = 42% and switching frequency = 10 kHz) illustrates that the switch and diode junction temperature are 117.29°C and 122.27°C, respectively. The results show that mean time to failure for the buck converter is 32,973 hours.