SolarMagic Power Optimizer Passes Rigorous Testing for Reliability, Durability

“National Semiconductor has long been known for quality and reliability, creating high-performance analog and power management products for extremely demanding applications in space, military and automotive areas. We are now applying that expertise in reliability to raise the performance bar for the PV industry,” said Dr. Prasad Chaparala, director of National’s Technology Reliability.

After decades of designing and manufacturing analog and power management integrated circuits (ICs), National has the proven ability to provide an exceptionally reliable product in SolarMagic. National currently produces billions of analog and mixed-signal ICs a year and has a very low defect rate of less than one defective part per million (DPPM).

National designed SolarMagic to have a very high reliability by incorporating proper component derating, extensive reliability Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), thermal analysis and pre-qualification reliability testing.

National’s SolarMagic power optimizers have passed rigorous environmental qualification tests such as damp-heat exposure, humidity-freeze cycling and thermal cycling used for PV module qualifications. In addition, they have successfully undergone electronic-systems reliability qualification tests such as high temperature operating life tests, power temperature cycling and highly accelerated life tests (HALT). Data from more than two thousand hours of reliability stress testing of SolarMagic power optimizers demonstrated an MTBF of 455 years.

National manufactures critical analog IC components for SolarMagic power optimizers at its in-house wafer-fabrication plants and assembly facilities, where they are subjected to enhanced quality manufacturing flows. In addition, the power optimizers undergo stringent quality control during the system assembly process. Comprehensive tri-temperature testing and burn-in tests are performed on all production units, virtually eliminating any potential early life failures.

In addition to rigorous internal testing, Santa Clara, Calif.- based Ops a La Carte LLC provided reliability testing of National’s SolarMagic power optimizer at its HALT and HASS Labs in Santa Clara. Ops a La Carte has had a long-term presence in the reliability field, conducting extensive reliability testing for the aerospace, automotive, medical, telecom, defense and energy (including fuel cell, oil and solar) industries.