Testing remaining life in transistor modules and IGBT's

Thread Starter

cheeg54674

Joined Mar 10, 2017
1
I have been wondering how to create a testing criteria to determine if the transistor modules and IGBT's in AC drives have life left. I can check the out of circuit and see they still gate, but that doesn't tell me if it has life remaining or if it is starting to see the end of its usable like. I am thinking of getting a thermal imaging camera to start looking at the heat signatures of them when running to see what life may remain, but doesn't even know if that would be a good bench mark. Anyone have any suggestions or have had similar projects?

Thanks.

Chris.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,158
It turns out that once semiconductors get through their infant mortal stage, their potential life is not limited in normal usage. Abuse of one sort or another is about the only thing that can kill them, they're not like vacuum tubes. Capacitors are actually the weak link in modern electronics: particularly aluminum electrolytics.
 
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