Early Detection of Defects and Energy Cost Reduction through Combined Burn-in and Vibration Test for Switching Power Supplies

Abstract

Burn-In is a common step in manufacturing process designed to stress all vital machine functions continuously for several hours, in order to identify any potential weaknesses or possible negative trends.  It has been already proven that it has the capability to determine possible future malfunctions at an early stage since it uses extreme temperature control however, providing additional stimulus to the burn-in process will make it more effective based on previous studies. This study focused on the improvement of the traditional burn-in test set-up used for switching power supply manufacturing companies.  Monitoring the results of the actual burn-in test set-up had been modified through the use of data acquisition module embedded in the test set-up.  Applying vibration was also considered as an environment stimulus that has been added to the exsisting set-up. This study determined the effect of vibration as an additional stimulus combined with the traditional burn in test and its capability to easily detect possible future defects of switching power supply units.  On the other hand, the output of this study also showed reduction of test time consumed in determining possible future malfunctions, hence, the combined burn-in and vibration test set-up has reduced the energy cost incurred during the testing process.  Actual test and development of this project study has been performed at Astec Power-Emerson Network, Cavite Philippines for a specific model of switching power supply units. Though, the test results showed difference in terms of its capability to determine furture workmanship defects compared with the existing burn-in set-up, it is not yet conclusive that it can replace the industrial Highly Accelerated Life Test/Highly Accelerated Stress Screen (HALT/HASS) test machines but it may be recommended as an alternative set-up to reduce energy cost in the testing process.

Keywords: burn-in, vibration, switching power supply, energy, environmental stress, thermal