State of the technology of power loss determination in power converters

Power loss determination is done in industry and research institutions commonly by means of three basic methods, the electrical measurement of input and output power, the calorimetric measurement and the single component power loss determination based on data sheets or measurement. All of these methods are characterized by different measurement accuracy and by a different effort for the measuring systems. To achieve a required minimum measurement accuracy with limited effort method and measuring systems have to be carefully chosen. These methods are presented and characterised, their limitations are shown and compared. By this, support for the choice of suitable method, depending on the application, is given.