Power electronics test

Challenges in power electronics test and design

• Increasing the operating frequency of a switched mode power supply can reduce inductor current ripple, output voltage ripple, and capacitance as well as the size of the power supply, but it also increases power supply loss and heat, interactions between high and low side transistors, and shoot-through.
• Increased noise from the power supply is a primary cause of EMI.
• Compact layouts, a source of increased heat and increased thermal variations, result in errors in components like regulators, amplifiers, and converters.
• Lower voltages reduce tolerances and increase precision requirements. The power tree becomes more complex to deliver a wide variety of voltages to different power domains, requiring more rails to reach all the integrated circuit pins.
• Thinner DC rails are a way to make a layout more compact and manage layout complexity, but they are more susceptible to overheating and increased inductance.

Ensuring reliability in power electronics circuits

Reliability is a crucial requirement for power electronics circuits; if the power circuit fails, the device will not operate. High efficiency, to minimize the energy losses causing heat generation, contributes to reliability. Even the most efficient power electronics circuits will generate heat, so well-designed heat dissipation and suitable material selection are essential. Power electronics circuits must also meet EMI requirements; emissions will affect both the device itself and any nearby devices.

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