Reliability Analysis for Laptop Computer Under Electrical Harmonics

Because of electrical variations presented in the power line, the estimated reliability of electronic devices, such as a laptop computer, differs from the real reliability. The found sources of electrical variations in the power lines were the electrical harmonics in the order of frequencies of 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13. As a consequence of these harmonics, the voltage in the power line has a time varying behavior. And because the power law model used to estimate the reliability does not consider this varying behavior, the estimated reliability differs from the real one. Thus, in this paper, a model that incorporates the electrical harmonics in the power law model is presented. The model was developed according to the Cumulative Damage Model and the time varying voltage into the power law model was modeled by using the compact form of the Fourier series. A comparative study between constant and time varying voltage is presented to analyze the effect of the electrical harmonics in the laptop computer. The conclusions of the study showed that the laptop computer reduces its lifetime by 2000 h on average and the failure rate increases when the electrical harmonics are present in the power lines. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.