A Streamlined Test-Oriented Lifetime Assessment Framework for Automotive Power Electronics Converters

IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 41, pp. 5862–5883

Abstract

Automotive power electronics are critical components in electric vehicles (xEVs), forming the backbone of the powertrain, where their performance and durability directly impact overall vehicle reliability. Current state-of-the-art lifetime testing and modeling methods for Power Electronics Converter (PEC)s rely on extensive experimental testing and/or high-fidelity physics-based models to assess degradation over the vehicle's lifetime, which is both resource-intensive and time-consuming. Consequently, there is increasing demand from automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM)s to incorporate reliability and lifetime evaluation in the early design phases of PECs, such as DC/DC converters and power inverters, prior to entering series production. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a streamlined methodology for testing, modeling, and lifetime assessment of a 150 kW SiC-based traction inverter. The inverter is tested on an industry-grade automotive test bench across multiple driving profiles. Accurate multiphysics modeling is performed using the test data, focusing on electro-thermal models for bond-wire degradation and thermo-mechanical models for die-attach degradation. A reliability assessment model integrates these multiphysics modeling results with statistical lifetime estimation. Lifetime assessments across various driving profiles reveal the influence of profile characteristics on reliability, highlighting that bond-wire degradation accounts for 91% of total lifetime degradation, while die-attach failure contributes only 9%. This work demonstrates that a systematic, test-driven methodology, combined with a collaborative lifetime assessment framework, significantly enhances confidence in the design of automotive power electronics. The proposed framework can be seamlessly integrated into the early design phase to optimize design outcomes and accelerate the design-to-market process. Compared to a conventional high-fidelity model-based approach, the proposed framework reduces mission-profile-based lifetime assessment effort by approximately 90%.

Authors 10

1. Sachin Kumar Bhoi

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   ETEC Department, MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussel, Belgium

   MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, Brussel, Belgium

2. Sajib Chakraborty

   Vrije Universiteit Brussel

   Affiliation as printed

   ETEC Department, MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussel, Belgium

   MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, Brussel, Belgium

3. Alireza Aghdaei Aachen Institute for Power Electronics Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

4. Anu Mathew

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS), Chemnitz, Germany

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS) Chemnitz, Germany

5. Tobias Daniel Horn

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS), Chemnitz, Germany

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS) Chemnitz, Germany

6. Sebastian Liebig
   Affiliation as printed

   AVL-SET GmbH, Wangen, Germany

7. Jan Albrecht

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS), Chemnitz, Germany

   Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS) Chemnitz, Germany

8. Christoph Abart

   Anstalt für Verbrennungskraftmaschinen List (Austria)

   Affiliation as printed

   AVL List GmbH, Graz, Austria

9. Rik W. De Doncker Aachen Institute for Power Electronics Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

10. Omar Hegazy

    Vrije Universiteit Brussel

    Affiliation as printed

    ETEC Department, MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussel, Belgium

    MOBI-EPOWERS Research Group, ETEC Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, Brussel, Belgium