On discovery tour: How safe, durable and quiet power supplies are created | Retro

1 - Intro, Start in Asia 2 - MTBF 3 - Environment 4 - HALT and Life Span 5 - Airflow and Pressure 6 - ESD, EFT 7 - EMI, EMC 8 - Noise 9 - Safety Lab 10 - From Prototype to Golden Sample 11 - Conclussion

How long does a power supply actually have to last?

Once you have decided on a specific platform in the course of the development phase and have introduced and implemented your own changes and ideas, then you have to decide on the most practical component assembly possible, which corresponds exactly to the set goals and standards. This is because it will be decided which component or part might later – perhaps – be the first to show a defect. Each manufacturer plans these times differently and, of course, takes commercial considerations into account. This is done both automatically and manually.

ATE Test (Automatic Test Equipment)

In this test, which runs automatically according to a defined protocol, all assemblies are first checked for their suitability and load-bearing capacity with the usually still provisional selection of components. It is not only the compliance with the stated technical parameters that is important, but above all the durability even under more stringent conditions. Are the assemblies really so perfectly designed functionally that no failures occur even under conditions at the limit?

Do the modifications and optimizations fit? This can and must be simulated in advance in order to be able to guarantee the quality of a platform and its equipment at all! If even a single test fails, then it’s back to tracking and possible modification of circuit or component sizing or selection. What quality is required – and are the suppliers’ data sheets really correct?

Only when this test has been run without errors, further weak points are searched for, which a machine can no longer find. Now the human being with his intuition and experience is in demand again.

Manual function and stress test

In the final run of this test series, each individual part is once again manually scrutinized. Each individual component must survive this test without damage or consequences, especially since the “weakest” component can then also be used to judge a possible minimum functional duration MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) until a possible failure. This is also where the final decision is made on the choice of components – unless the following tests, which are completely different, reveal unexpected weaknesses.

By the way, we can reassure our readers at this point, because the fan is the first thing to go wrong with a modern power supply that is really well-equipped. If not, this or a similar test will certainly have been lacking beforehand.