FEATURE POWER ELECTRONICS
CUSTOM POWER SUPPLIES require careful commissioning
manufacturing service for bespoke AC-DC units between 40W and 450W, for the medical, communications, industrial, security and computing industries. The company’s IP Support Engineering
Team have over forty years of experience to help design and prototype a PSU to your application’s exact requirements, or alternatively, will become an expert partner collaborating with your engineering team to get an existing design ready for prototyping. Support is available throughout the entire project, including samples, prototypes, manufacturing, testing and shipping. The company works in partnership with
Craig Eaton, Marketing and Design Manager from Ideal Power discusses the potential pitfalls of commissioning custom power supplies
I
f you are considering working with an application that has certain power
supply requirements, such as unusual voltage and current needs, specific standards approvals, maximising efficiency or reducing the physical footprint, then commissioning a custom power supply may be the best option. However, the supplier you choose to design and manufacture your power supply can have a huge impact on the project’s overall success. If you are considering directly contacting a new, untested supplier, there are a number of things you’ll want to consider before you take the plunge. Firstly, is the new supplier capable of
offering the right advice in designing a power supply that meets your needs in the time frame you require? It may sound basic, but it pays to do research on this point. If the supplier does not have the right engineering resources in place, a large amount of design variations may be required to produce a product that meets your exact specifications. The more design alterations that are required, the more time is required. Since the power supply is often the last part of a system to be specified, even the smallest delays can push your end product’s time to market out considerably. One thing that can help reduce the amount of design iterations required is
Figure 1:
At the manufacturing stage, there are many things to be considered, such as potential
obsolescence issues with the specified components, particularly if they are specialist or niche components
effective communication. Can your engineering team communicate easily and effectively with the supplier’s team? Is there a language barrier? Is the supplier in your time zone, or do they have representatives that are?
A certain level of trust is also necessary,
since you’ll be sharing your intellectual property (IP) with the supplier. The supplier should be able to reassure you that your IP will be protected, but what legal recourse do you have if things go wrong? Even when the product reaches the
Figure 2: Ideal Power offers a custom power supply design and
manufacturing service for bespoke AC-DC units between 40W and 450W
manufacturing stage, there are questions that need to be considered, such as: are specialist or niche components being used? Are there potential obsolescence issues with the components specified? Are the components specified and used sub- standard or counterfeit components?
QUALITY CONTROL Quality assurance and testing are also of paramount importance. You will want to ensure the supplier conforms to the right quality standards and can provide genuine paperwork for it. Working with an experienced distributor that specialises in power supplies is a good way to help reduce concerns like these. For example, Ideal Power offers a custom power supply design and
/ ELECTRONICS
German-owned manufacturer EOS Power to provide a complete custom AC/DC PSU service. What this means is that when commissioning a bespoke power supply, it will be manufactured in EOS’s award- winning facility in India. This facility is certified to ISO9001 and ISO14001 quality standards. EOS is actually India’s largest manufacturer of branded power supplies; more than 40 million units have been sold since the company’s inception 23 years ago. All aspects of design, supply chain, manufacturing, testing and delivery are controlled by experienced personnel using six sigma, statistical process control (SPC) and lean manufacturing methods. Working with such a company can help
provide the low-cost benefits of manufacturing in Asia, but at the same time, lower associated risks by dealing with a UK company with years of experience of commissioning power supplies; plus a well-established relationship with a genuinely high quality manufacturer. To make it even easier, Ideal Power can also offer UK stock- holding services for your convenience. In summary, if you are thinking of going
with an inexpensive and untested supplier for your custom power supply, the advice is to ensure that adequate research is completed before any commitment is made. Alternatively you can contact the company who can offer all the advantages of working with an Asian manufacturer but with European accountability from the experts in power conversion.
Ideal Power
www.idealpower.co.uk 0845 260 3400
Enter 206 ELECTRONICS | SEPTEMBER 2014 19
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