Mission profile emulator for the power electronics systems of motor drive applications

Due to the adverse temperature swings which normally occur in the power semiconductor devices during the start-up and deceleration periods of the motor drive system, the thermal design and control, as well as the reliability analysis of the power devices becomes crucial. In order to facilitate testing and access the loading and lifetime performances, a novel stress emulator for power semiconductor devices based on the mission profile of a motor drive system is proposed and designed. The control algorithm for the stress emulator setup is introduced, and the issues concerning the Orthogonal Signal Generator (OSG) are addressed by means of adaptive Notch filter implementation. Finally, experimental results are provided in order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed emulation technique.