Field Reliability of D.C. Power Plants for Telecommunication Systems

Field reliability data are described with references to 48V/60V 300A power plants, developed by ITALTEL according to specifications of SIP, Italian Telecommunication Operating Company. Each power plant consists of a power distribution system, 60A rectifiers and 25A buck-boost converters, redundant parallel operating with load sharing and selective cut-off of failed unit. The period under examination covers almost 4 years, during which over 200 power plants with more than 600 rectifiers and 700 buck-boost converters have been installed. The methods used for data collection are explained, as well as the statistical instruments used for the comparison of field results and estimated data.