{"id":40730,"date":"2022-03-15T18:39:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T23:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flex.com\/resources\/whats-driving-the-need-for-black-box-technology-in-power-converters"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:29:26","slug":"whats-driving-the-need-for-black-box-technology-in-power-converters","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/resources\/whats-driving-the-need-for-black-box-technology-in-power-converters","title":{"rendered":"\u00bfQu\u00e9 factores impulsan la necesidad de tecnolog\u00eda de "caja negra" en los convertidores de potencia?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tFlex<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\tResources<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\tWhat\u2019s driving the need for \u2018black box\u2019 technology in power converters?<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

What\u2019s driving the need for \u2018black box\u2019 technology in power converters?<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tPosted on
\n\t\t\t\tmarzo 15, 2022\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBlog<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCommunications<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tData Center Power<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPower<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPower Modules<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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When the \u2018Uptime Institute\u2019 polled 152 data center managers in 2020 [1] on what was the primary cause of their organization\u2019s most recent significant outage, 37% said \u2018power\u2019. The Uptime Institute also reported that 16% of 146 managers polled in 2020 estimated the cost of the outage as more than $1M. Historically there have even been outages costing over $100M.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With increased reliance on \u2018the cloud\u2019 for everything from social media to banking, it has therefore never been more important to avoid unplanned outages. Of course, there are established techniques to achieve this, typically employing redundancy in functionality and particularly in power supplies, which can otherwise be a \u2018single point\u2019 of failure. However, knowing the degree of redundancy, the reliability of the remaining functioning equipment and the acceptable maximum time to repair or change-out faulty equipment is vital \u2013 having back-up which itself has a high failure rate is of limited use if redundancy can\u2019t be reinstated quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redundancy is effective \u2013 but only if you monitor<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It’s a basic rule of redundancy that you must know if the redundant unit has kicked-in after a failure. Otherwise, you would be unaware for an indeterminate time that a further single failure could take down the whole system. Therefore, it is common that power rails are monitored before any \u2018gating\u2019 diodes to provide health information, prompting repair or replacement. It\u2019s another basic rule that any monitoring that is aggregated does not in itself represent a hazard by being a common connection to redundant elements that could induce a failure in all equipment monitored, for example, by injecting a high voltage after an insulation failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many power converters in critical positions will have a \u2018DC OK\u2019 or \u2018Power Good\u2019 signal which can be used to signal part of a redundant power system falling out of specification. However, modern converters often also have a degree of digital control and monitoring, which can not only provide an alarm on failure, but also a \u2018snap shot\u2019 of the converter conditions as the failure is registered. This can include actual output current and voltage and critically, the temperature of the part. The function now becomes analogous to a \u2018black box\u2019 event data recorder. The information can typically be interrogated over an I2<\/sup>C interface using PMBus\u00ae <\/sup>commands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A further enhancement is to write the data to non-volatile memory (NVM) in the converter, so that even if its powertrain is catastrophically damaged, diagnostic data may still be recoverable. The principle also applies to non-redundant arrangements where sudden loss of function caused by a failed converter or load may be tolerable in the short term, but it would still be useful to know the conditions under which failure occurred. If it is the load that has failed to function, signaled in some way, the power converter current and perhaps temperature monitoring might also give a clue as to what has happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this, \u2018time stamping\u2019 of the recorded data from a power converter can be used to associate a failure log with external events. For example, if a load goes short-circuit, the converter will shut down and could log the event and time for later correlation with some other external event. An example of a power converter with this version of one-time programming \u2018black-box\u2019 functionality is Flex Power Modules\u2019 BMR350 series<\/a>. This is a 1200 W peak, baseplate-cooled, quarter-brick DC\/DC converter with a PMBus\u00ae<\/sup>\ninterface allowing access to the \u2018event data recorder\u2019 information collected under failure conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"BMR350<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Picture: <\/em>Flex Power Modules\u2019 BMR350 with inbuilt OTP fault event data recorder<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


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Other power converters have continuously operating event recorders <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An extension to this is to continuously monitor and time-stamp \u2018life events\u2019 during normal operation. This could be cumulative operating hours, unusual current demands, self-resets after an overvoltage transient or a range of other parameters. Data could be used to identify trends such as gradual temperature increase due to blocked fan filters or loss of power conversion efficiency over time. With analysis, wear-out failures could be predicted, and Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) can be implemented. This is a regime where parts are replaced when they need to be and before failure, rather than at arbitrary fixed intervals or only when failure occurs. This saves labor and hardware costs while maximizing up-time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of a power converter with this ability to continuously over-write the event data recorder is the Flex Power Modules BMR491<\/a>. This is a 2450 W peak, baseplate-cooled, quarter-brick DC\/DC converter with a PMBus\u00ae<\/sup> interface again allowing access to the \u2018event data recorder\u2019 information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


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\"BMR491<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Picture: <\/em>Flex Power Modules\u2019 BMR491 with inbuilt rewritable life event data recorder<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


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The \u2018Uptime Institute\u2019 makes the point that hardware reliability is improving, but rate of roll-out and reliance on new data centers is such that monitoring, lifetime prediction and fault diagnosis are still an increasing concern. \u2018Black-box\u2019 functionality in power converters is set to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] https:\/\/uptimeinstitute.com\/an…<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrochure\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tFlex Power Modules selection guide\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrochure\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tDC\/DC converters for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSolution Brief\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tCritical power solutions for reliable, energy-efficient grid-to-rack delivery\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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La evaluaci\u00f3n de la fiabilidad y disponibilidad de los servicios de los centros de datos depende de la monitorizaci\u00f3n del rendimiento. Los convertidores de potencia m\u00e1s recientes proporcionan valiosos datos en tiempo real con "registradores de datos de eventos" integrados, las llamadas funciones de grabaci\u00f3n de "caja negra".<\/p>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":32256,"template":"","categories":[38,90,43,97],"tags":[260,258,253,251,115],"content-type":[13],"class_list":["post-40730","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communications","category-data-center-power","category-power","category-power-modules","tag-bmr350","tag-bmr351","tag-bmr352","tag-bmr353","tag-bmr491","content-type-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/40730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resource"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/40730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40737,"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/40730\/revisions\/40737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40730"},{"taxonomy":"content-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flex.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-type?post=40730"}],"curies":[{"name":"gracias","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}