AHP based evaluation method for technology readiness level of DC-DC converter

DC-DC converter is an electronic circuit that converts a source of direct current (DC) from one voltage level to another. It's widely used because of its short design period and high reliability. It is very important to evaluate technology readiness level (TRL) of DC-DC converter accurately. In this paper, Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based evaluation method is proposed to calculate TRL value of DC-DC converter. A hierarchy model of objective remaining to be evaluated needs to be developed in the beginning. The structure of model is divided into three layers respectively called objective layer, criteria layer and alterative layer. Objective layer consists of the device itself and comprises several criterions such as technology, material, design and manufacturing. The third layer includes all concerning specific elements. Then, assign weight value for each criterion and construct normalized pairwise comparison matrix. Maximum eigenvalue and corresponding eigenvector is calculated by mathematical method for further consistency examination, which ensures the reliability of decision maker. Finally, TRL of the device can be calculated as 0.93 according to known TRL value of each element of it. The result shows that TRL of DC-DC converter is more than 0.9, which means it is in the condition of high maturity and is suitable for large-scale application.