Power supplies are the major life-limiting component in most electronic systems. Ridgetop Group’s RingDown is a patented technology to create an advanced prognostics-enabler, the key to providing the higher reliability and improved serviceability needed in mission-critical systems and devices. Far superior to the current static load testing method, RingDown is a non-invasive health monitoring methodology that requires no modification to the power supply circuit. Ridgetop’s Sample Mode Response Technique™ (SMRT™) sensors incorporate this innovative technology, including the SMRT Probe 4000™ shown below.
SMRT Probe 4000
Power supplies employ closed-loop feedback to keep the voltage or current under tight control and regulation. While the power system may still be in regulation, certain aging- or stress-related changes to internal components can indicate impending failure conditions on the supply.
By externally monitoring transient responses to source or load changes, RingDown-enabled sensors accurately determines wear-out by analyzing transient response so that prognostic analysis tools such as Ridgetop’s ARULE™ can calculate state of health (SoH) and remaining useful life (RUL) metrics. The transients on the power supply produce the characteristic ringing waveform, which reveals the characteristics, or eigenvalues, indicative of system health. Departures from the standard response can be directly mapped to equipment degradation or devices approaching the end of their useful operational life, and provide the basis for a unique and non-intrusive prognostic for the power supply under test.
One of RingDown’s prime functions is superb sensitivity and precision. Imagine the advantages of detecting failure signatures before performance is noticeably reduced.
Damped Sinusoid Response or Ringing Signal in Response to a Load Change
Key Features and Benefits
- Senses advanced notice of impending failures
- Dual use for factory or field testing to detect degraded condition and perform proactive maintenance
- Improves fault coverage in conjunction with dedicated prognostic circuitry
Product Brief
Overviews
Application Notes
Related Products
- SMRT Probe 4000, a resonant voltage-sampling sensor
- ARULE, a reasoner to determine the remaining useful life (RUL) and state of health (SoH) of complex systems
- Sentinel Motion™, a product line that includes wireless vibration and motion signature monitoring sensors, prognostic reasoners, and a visualization tool
- Sentinel Network™ network management tools for prognostic-enabled systems
- Sentinel IT™,a product line that provides solutions for improving IT network reliability and network health management (NHM).
Ridgetop is certified as category 1A under the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) as part of the Trusted Supplier Program. Ridgetop has history of designing analog and mixed signal ICs for demanding applications in space satellites that are subjected to extreme temperatures and radiation. Our designs have utilized bulk CMOS, CMOS-SOI, and SiGe at process geometries down to 28 nm channel lengths. Radiation hardness is also a concern, and Ridgetop has addressed those requirements as well. A recent Ridgetop design was delivered to ON Semiconductor for the U.S. Air Force STELLAR Star Tracker.
Under contract to NASA, Ridgetop designed an effective 3-axis wireless rotational sensor. The RotoSense™ sensor has been tested on fast-spinning pinion gears on helicopter gear boxes, and also rolling stock for railroad safety improvements.