Patent ID: 8742778

Claim:
A method for verifying the operability of one or more protection schemes that prevent continued deficient operation of a power converter, the method comprising the steps of: providing the power converter which can receive current from an input bus connected to a power source via an input switch, reduce a voltage level of a received current via a voltage regulator comprised of a high-side switch and a low-side switch, and pass current from the voltage regulator to an output bus connected to a load via an ORing switch; the power converter simulating at least one deficient operating condition from a group of deficient operating conditions by driving either the high-side switch or the low-side switch with a pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal, while the remaining of the input switch, the high-side switch, the low-side switch, and the ORing switch are each in a predetermined opened or closed state, wherein the group of deficient operating conditions include: excessive forward current at the input switch, reverse current at the output switch, a detected voltage level of current from the voltage regulator below a predetermined lower boundary voltage level, and a detected voltage level of current from the voltage regulator above a predetermined upper boundary voltage level; and the power converter determining whether a protection scheme used to prevent continued deficient operation of the power converter responds properly to the simulated at least one deficient operating condition.