Qualification testing of DC-DC converters

Printed circuit board mounted DC-DC power converters, also referred to as point-of-use power supplies (PUPS), are an integral and critical component of products developed and manufactured by Nortel. As a key component, the reliability of these devices has direct impact on quality of product manufactured by Nortel. Many of the converters utilized in Nortel products are standard "off the shelf" commercial units, available from a wide variety of manufacturers. With the proliferation of the use of these devices, former qualification methods had proven incapable of assuring the quality and reliability requirements for a telecom environment. This paper describes the current setup, test, statistical analysis and failure analysis methods used to assess DC-DC power converter design quality and reliability.