| CPC G01R 31/2642 (2013.01) [G01R 31/2874 (2013.01); G05B 23/0283 (2013.01)] | 21 Claims |

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1. A method of estimating a remaining useful life (RUL) of a switching system that includes a plurality of p-type switching devices and a plurality of n-type switching devices, the switching system used in a three-phase control system, the method comprising:
estimating a health signature of the switching system while the switching system is in use to control a three-phase motor, including:
determining the health signature of each of the p-type switching devices during positive peaks of a three-phase current associated with the three-phase control system;
determining the health signature of each of the n-type switching devices during negative peaks of the three-phase current associated with the three-phase control system;
estimating a junction temperature of each of the plurality of p-type switching devices and the plurality of n-type switching devices;
based on a relationship between the power dissipation and the junction temperature with respect to a pre-defined operating condition at a pre-defined temperature, normalizing the health signature to generate a normalized health signature;
calculating a health state estimation matrix by modeling the degradation of the normalized health signature over a time interval using Kalman filtering;
using the health state estimation matrix, determining a health state of the switching system at a first time;
forecasting, based on the health state and the health state estimation matrix, a time at which the each of the plurality of p-type switching devices and each of the plurality of n-type switching devices within the switching system reach a failure criterion; and
causing a notification to be provided to an output device, the notification including the time at which the each of the plurality of p-type switching devices and each of the plurality of n-type switching devices is forecasted to reach the failure criterion.
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