2018, an Exciting Year for the Power Electronics Industry

The holidays have flown by here, and 2018 is in full swing already. The APEC exhibition at the start of March in San Antonio is the place where every power company wants to be seen, and the whole industry seems to have sprung into action in preparation for it, including the US contingent at PSD. My colleagues in the US will be at the event for the duration of the exhibition and will be providing coverage of all the latest launches and innovation. I can’t wait to see the latest news, technology and video interviews from the show. Hopefully you will be just as excited.

For the issue this month, we look at that old mainstay of the industry, the power supply. Power supplies are vital to almost every piece of equipment we use on a daily basis. The consumer demands smaller and smaller products, while industry bodies demand that they become more efficient or meet exacting standards depending on the application area. Nowhere is that more true than in the medical industry where both patients and operators can be at risk from faulty equipment.

TDK Lambda looks at power supplies in the medical area for the article that the company has contributed this month. The article looks at when power supplies come under IEC 60601 regulations and how you can ensure the criteria for the regulations are met by performing testing against those criteria levels. The article then guides the reader through the tests and requirements.

It is not only specific application areas that have to meet exacting standards, general goods for the consumer industry also need to meet stringent regulation, and that’s what XP Power talks about in the company’s article this month. Gary Bocock from XP Power walks us through the process of designing equipment to meet the requirements of EN 60335. The legislation is important as meeting the standards requirements for household and similar electrical appliances also helps equipment meet the overall requirements for other standards, such as the ‘Low Voltage Directive’ LVD 2006/95/EC and the ‘Machinery Directive’ 2006/42/EC or even the ‘Construction Products Directive’ 89/106/EEC. 

Other articles in the magazine are of a more general type. Mouse Electronics’ contribution takes a look at thermal management, which leads on to a more in-depth discussion on forced air cooling and how to select the correct fan. Also in the issue, HARTING looks at wind power and how the current generation of turbines take a modular approach in their construction. Reliable connectors are essential for this type of build and the article looks at some of the areas that connectors are needed and their requirements.

PSD