Method and apparatus for electrical component life estimation

A non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions for estimating degradation of an electrical system component caused by an operating parameter that stresses the electrical system component for each of series of stress cycles, the computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• maintain a plurality of cycle count values, each individual cycle count value corresponding to one of a plurality of non-overlapping ranges of values of the operating parameter;
• store a plurality of maximum cycle values, each individual maximum cycle value corresponding to one of the plurality of non-overlapping ranges of values of the operating parameter, each individual maximum cycle value representing a number of stress cycles in the corresponding range of values of the operating parameter at which the electrical system component is expected to have a user defined failure probability value;
• for a given stress cycle, receive a first value representing the operating parameter for the given stress cycle from the electrical system;
• for the given stress cycle, increment one of the cycle count values that corresponds to the range of values of the operating parameter that includes the first value;
• for the given stress cycle, compute a cumulative degradation value for the electrical system component as a sum of a plurality of ratios of the individual cycle count values divided by the corresponding maximum cycle values of the plurality of values of the operating parameter;
• compute a predicted remaining time when the electrical system component needs to be replaced using the cumulative degradation value and a filtered use case cumulative degradation accumulation rate;
• and
• selectively generate a first message on an interface of the electrical system, the first message comprising at least a warning generated when the cumulative degradation value for the given stress cycle exceeds a user defined first threshold value.

A system for estimating degradation of an electrical system component caused by an operating parameter that stresses the electrical system component for each of series of stress cycles, the system comprising:

• an electronic memory that stores:
• a plurality of cycle count values, each individual cycle count value corresponding to one of a plurality of non-overlapping ranges of values of the operating parameter, and
• a plurality of maximum cycle values, each individual maximum cycle value corresponding to one of the plurality of non-overlapping ranges of values of the operating parameter, each individual maximum cycle value representing a number of stress cycles in the corresponding range of values of the operating parameter at which the electrical system component is expected to have a user defined failure probability value;
• and
• a processor programmed to:
• for a given stress cycle, receive a first value representing the operating parameter for the given stress cycle from the electrical system,
• for the given stress cycle, increment one of the cycle count values that corresponds to the range of values of the operating parameter that includes the first value,
• for the given stress cycle, compute a cumulative degradation value for the electrical system component as a sum of a plurality of ratios of the individual cycle count values divided by the corresponding maximum cycle values of the plurality of values of the operating parameter;
• compute a predicted remaining time when the electrical system component needs to be replaced using the cumulative degradation value and a filtered use case cumulative degradation accumulation rate;
• and
• selectively generate a first message on an interface of the electrical system, the first message comprising at least a warning generated when the cumulative degradation value for the given stress cycle exceeds a user defined first threshold value.