Residual value: Predictive Lifetime Monitoring of Power Converter Components for Sustainable Reuse and Reliability

The increasing demand for reliable and efficient power electronic systems in critical applications—such as renewable energy, electric vehicles, and aerospace—has intensified the need to understand and predict failure mechanisms in power devices. This work focuses on the reliability assessment and lifetime modeling of medium-voltage power electronic components under realistic mission profiles. By combining accelerated aging tests, failure analysis, and physics-of-failure modeling, we identify dominant degradation mechanisms such as thermal cycling, partial discharge, and dielectric breakdown. A hybrid methodology is proposed, integrating experimental data and simulation to predict the evolution of key parameters (e.g., on-state resistance, threshold voltage) over time. The study also explores the impact of packaging, thermal management, and environmental stresses on device robustness. The results provide valuable insights for the design of more durable power electronic converters and for the implementation of condition monitoring strategies in real-time applications.