Online Degradation Detection Method for Voltage Regulation and Efficiency in Digitally-Controlled Switching Mode Power Supply

The software-implemented online-degradation-detection method for digitally-controlled switching mode power supply (DC-SMPS) was studied. We found the voltage regulation degradation and the efficiency degradation are different output current dependence on applied duty. They are separately detectable by comparing the applied and the theoretical duty, which is calculated using micro-processing unit (MPU) fetched input/output IV data and pre-measured efficiency. This method is easily implementable as firmware and expected as a cost and space effective degradation detection/failure prediction method. In this paper, we describe the concept and verify it using MATLAB/Simulink simulation and RCP (Rapid Control Prototyping) evaluation.