Medical
Power supply selection for medical equipment
The healthcare industry is changing. Factors including the increasing age profile of patients, the increase in lifestyle related conditions, as well as the demand for higher levels of healthcare in the developing world has resulted in changes in diagnostics and treatments. The treatment environment is changing with increased levels of outpatient care for many illnesses and treatments including more home care and clinic based activities. Dermot Flynn, director of sales for Excelsys Technologies, tells us more
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election and specification of power supplies for medical applications is a task that must be approached
with great care; especially now where key safety and environmental standards are undergoing substantial changes, that will affect large segments of the medical industry. Furthermore medical system designers also face the challenges of reducing their time to market, reducing cost while maintaining the highest levels of reliability and ensuring patient safety at all times
The changing regulatory environment: IEC60601-1 3rd edition and 4th edition
IEC60601-1 3rd edition (safety) There have been major changes in the safety standards that govern medical equipment, with the full adoption of the harmonised standard IEC60601-1 3rd edition, from which national standards are
IEC60601-1-2 4th Edition (EMC) In 2014, the International Electro technical Commission (IEC) published a revision of the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements for medical devices under a 4th edition of IEC 60601-1-2. These revisions include a number of changes, including new immunity and more robust risk analysis requirements. Dates of adoption range from 2017 through to the end of 2018, however what is critical is that any medical equipment development that is underway should meet this new standards. While this is a system requirement, due diligence in power selection can simplify and de risk the EMC aspects of the standard. Power supplies such as the CoolX and UltiMod from Excelsys have been tested and conform to the revised EMC immunity standard of both the 3rd and 4th edition of this standard thus helping system designers’ future proof their new product developments as well as their legacy designs.
derived (UL, EN, CSA for example), IEC60601-1 has defined different requirements for protection of the operator – MOOP (Means of Operator Protection) and more stringent protection of the patent – MOPP (Means of Patent Protection). It is recommended that medical grade power supplies meet 2 x MOPP, greatly simplifying system integration and safety approval.
Reduced time to market: development time and lead-time The pace of new innovation set by industry leaders makes shortened product design cycles a survival imperative: product concepts must move into production in the shortest possible time. However medical equipment often require unique set of customised voltages, coupled with approvals that can impact a product development. The flexibility of the modular products such as the CoolX and UltiMod from Excelsys allows customers meet their “customised” requirements from a standard product, affording them all the benefits of readily available, short lead-time product while delivering the unique set of outputs that their system requires.
Manufacturing benefits include the virtual elimination of inventories of custom power supplies, reducing the risk of carrying obsolete material before it can be used. This is due to the shorter production
fans are mechanical parts and are more likely to have a shorter lifetimes, be prone to blockages etc, which can shorten system lifetime.
Reducing the amount of heat generated is one solution. Selecting a power supply with higher efficiency greatly reduces the amount of heat rises in components and will improve lifetime. However removing the need for fan cooling completely will have a much bigger impact on reliability. In fact there can be increase of 25 per cent in MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) when fans are not used. The revolutionary CoolX Fanless modular product combines both of these reliability increasing measures in a single product. No fans required to cool the power supply, while boasting up to 93 per cent efficiency, thereby reducing component temperature rise in both the power supply and the system.
Product and vendor selection is key
Medical system companies have a must keep abreast of wide range of factors when selecting a power supply. In the development stage, they must “future-
lead-times associated with modular power supplies. In addition un- forecasted (and often required immediately) system production requirements can be supported, with the shorter power supply lead-times, allowing manufacturers to be more reactive to market needs, with minimal disruption to their production.
Reliability: keeping cool The mission critical nature of the equipment, dictates that medical equipment must maintain high reliability over long product lifetimes. Reliability of electronic components is directly (negatively) impacted by heat. The hotter the components, the shorter the lifetime. Therefore minimising heat generation in the system will have a positive impact on system reliability. Power supplies generate heat through conversion losses in transformers etc. Traditionally these are cooled by integral fans which move the heated air away from the power supply components prolonging lifetime. However
24 October 2016 Components in Electronics
proof” their designs to meet existing and new regulation standards that will be in pace while the product is been supplied to the market. In addition, reliability must be “designed-in” from step one, as subsequent system design changes are time consuming and expensive to implement. The challenges faced by operations (shorter lead-times to customers, continuity of supply) must also be taken into account when selecting a power supply. Choosing a product that addresses the issues outlined in this article from a vendor who understands the medical segment technical, and commercial challenges will simplify and de- risk system developments.
www.excelsys.com www.cieonline.co.uk
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