Semiconductor Current Collector Circuit for Early Failure Symptom Diagnosis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current reliability designs for semiconductor integrated circuits in vehicles assume a few hours of daily operation, which is insufficient for 24-hour operation scenarios like car sharing or full autonomous driving, leading to potential early failure and the need for comprehensive symptom diagnosis before failure occurs.
Innovation Solution
A semiconductor integrated circuit with a power supply terminal, circuit unit, current acquisition unit, timer, and symptom diagnosis circuit that diagnoses failure symptoms based on time-series data of consumption current and accumulated operation time, allowing for early detection of potential failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If reliability design is performed for 24-hour operation scenarios, then the reliability of the semiconductor integrated circuit is improved, but the manufacturing cost and feasibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by performing symptom diagnosis before actual failure occurs. The diagnosis circuit continuously monitors operational parameters (current, temperature, voltage) and detects early signs of degradation or abnormality during normal operation, allowing preventive maintenance or replacement before the component fails completely, thus avoiding the need for overly conservative and costly 24-hour reliability designs
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive symptom diagnosis is performed on all circuits, then the detection precision of failure symptoms is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a multi-functional diagnosis circuit that can monitor multiple parameters (current, temperature, voltage) and diagnose various failure modes using a single integrated circuit block. This universal diagnosis circuit replaces what would otherwise require multiple separate monitoring circuits for each parameter, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive diagnostic capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple diagnostic functions into a single integrated diagnosis circuit. Instead of having separate circuits for current monitoring, temperature monitoring, and failure detection, the patent combines these functions into one unified diagnosis circuit that processes multiple inputs and provides comprehensive failure symptom detection, thereby reducing device complexity
Data Source
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AI summary
A semiconductor integrated circuit includes: a power supply terminal to which power is supplied from an external power supply; a circuit unit including a plurality of circuits, the plurality of circuits being configured to operate at a predetermined activation ratio, with power supplied from the power supply terminal; a current acquisition unit configured to acquire, from the power supply terminal, a consumption current of the power consumed in the circuit unit; a timer configured to measure an accumulated operation time in which a time during which the circuit unit operates is accumulated; and a symptom diagnosis circuit configured to diagnose a failure symptom in the circuit unit, based on time-series data of the consumption current and the accumulated operation time, acquired on a time-series basis in a diagnosis mode in which the circuit unit operates at an activation ratio higher than a maximum activation ratio of the circuit unit operating normally.