Irrespective of the product you are designing, chances are that the selection of a low voltage power supply to drive the electronics is not going to be a high priority on the ‘to-do’ list. Traditionally power supplies are an 11th hour decision, largely because they are viewed as a standard off the shelf item that can be easily sourced from a wide range of potential suppliers, who may all appear to be offering very similar products in terms of performance.
In reality, the PSU marketplace is no different to any other technology marketplace, the landscape stretches from specialised low volume units through to commoditised product produced in the hundreds of thousands. The primary determinant as to where one ends up on this spectrum is traditionally cost vs. quality, however, this misses an increasingly important part of the overall picture given the raft of new efficiency and safety approvals that are imminent. Therefore, in addition to the ability to produce a reliable product at a competitive cost, one also has to select a power supply manufacturer that can keep pace with both safety and efficiency standards globally and can therefore offer a future proof product – allowing you to maximise sales, as no market will be ‘off limits’.
FRIWO have been making low voltage power supplies at their German factory since 1974 and have seen many technological changes over the past 40 years – however their philosophy of producing fully approved highly reliable product for demanding OEMs remains relevant, more than one billion units later. Today FRIWO have an R&D team of over 60, split between the European HQ and volume manufacturing facilities in Asia, this enables the offering to be scalable, with prototypes and engineering pilot runs taking place in Germany, where our customers can take advantage of in house EMC pre compliance testing, X ray inspection facilities and HALT programmes. As volumes grow, the European operations have the capacity to continue to support projects, with over 300 production staff and a highly automated German manufacturing plant, however, the option also exists to switch to a lower cost manufacturing centre, while still maintaining the experience and knowledge of the same project team at FRIWO.
As an illustration of their engineering ability and technical prowess in 2015 FRIWO have launched their brand new Friwo One click eXchangeable, or FOX product family. These new units feature fully interchangeable mains plugs, available in standard configuration, or as a silicon moulded version, which, for the 1st time on an interchangeable unit, results in a rating of IP42. Most intriguingly the FOX also features a selectable output lead system – retaining lugs on the PCB allow the fitting of a wide range of moulded output leads under secondary operations with the required polarity. Once fitted, the leads are then impossible to remove and indistinguishable from traditional grommeted leads. The FOX range also features both clipped and welded housings, ensuring double safety for the end user and saving the housing space that would otherwise be taken up by the screw pillars.
Smaller and more efficient than its predecessors, the FOX achieves a power density of 7.3cm3/W and a peak efficiency of 86%, which significantly exceeds even the DOE2016 limits to be adopted in the US next year. However, this performance has not been achieved at the expense of reliability, with an MTBF of over 200,000hrs. Of course, being a FRIWO product, this range is also available with full medical approvals; even the USB version can be specified to fulfil IEC60601 with 6W and 12W variants available. The full range extends from 6 to 30W and from 5V to 48V, and is rolling out throughout 2015.
The FOX, like all FRIWO products, is available in the UK through Haredata Electronics – as FRIWO’s sole agents for over 25 years Haredata Electronics are ideally placed to support OEM clients deliver on their technical requirements when it comes to low voltage. With stocks held locally and an experienced technical sales team on hand, if you would like to evaluate the FOX, or any of the other high quality products from the FRIWO range, please get in touch today.
