Application of infrared thermography to non-contact testing of AD/DC power supply

Abstract

Testing of AC/DC power supplies using the thermography was carried out in order to assess their assembly and operation correctness before launching them on the market. The investigation was carried out for 17 AC/DC power supplies which passed the standard tests (measurements of their basic parameters and characteristics). The investigation consisted of two steps. In the first step the dispersion of temperature on power supply boards was measured after 20 minutes operating in nominal conditions. Three regions were defined as potentially revealing a failure. In the second step the acceptable temperature increments on the boards of tested power supplies were evaluated. It was proposed to assess properties of power supplies on the basis of temperature increments on their boards, registered by an infrared camera either for 12 minutes or up to 20 minutes.