Our Director of Product Marketing, Hafiz Khalid, explores why configurable power supplies are essential for developing, testing, and powering a wide range of electronics and how they offer the user flexibility and control over electrical parameters.
XP Power's range of configurable power supplies enables customers to alter the output voltage, quantity of outputs, and current levels to match their specific design requirements. Offering remote control capabilities, our power supplies are flexible and versatile enough for a wide range of applications.
What are configurable power supplies?
Configurable power supplies allow you to tailor the output voltage, number of outputs and current levels to your specific requirements. This type of power supply provides exact power to devices in a flexible and timely manner, ensuring they operate under the desired conditions or test scenarios.
Configurable power supplies often come with a core chassis which can support different modules to configure exact requirements for the number of output voltages, voltage and current levels. They usually come with remote control capabilities, such as Ethernet or USB interfaces, so that you can change settings and adapt to evolving needs without physically accessing the supply.
What is the difference between standard, custom and configurable power supplies?
Standard power supplies come with fixed specifications, offering a set voltage and current output. Custom power supplies are designed to meet specific requirements, with adjustable parameters tailored to unique needs.
If you need a balance between a standard and custom solution, a configurable power supply offers flexibility by allowing you to choose the modules which are required to deliver output voltage and current levels within predefined ranges.
When should I select a configurable power supply?
A configurable power supply may be the best power solution for your application if the following is important:
Multiple voltage and current requirements
When applications demand multiple outputs with different voltage and current levels, configurability allows for tailored outputs to match your specific device requirements.
Prototyping and development
During the early stages of product development, configurable supplies enable engineers to experiment with different power settings to help with rapid prototyping and design iteration.
Testing and validation
In quality assurance and testing environments, configurability ensures that devices are evaluated under various operating conditions, helping identify vulnerabilities and optimizing the performance of your device.
Research and scientific experiments
Configurable power supplies are essential in research settings, where experiments may involve varying electrical parameters to study the effects on different systems or components.
Multi-device powering
When powering multiple devices with diverse voltage and current needs from a single source, configurable supplies simplify the process by adapting to each device's requirements.
Cost efficiency
Configurable power supplies offer a balance between standard and custom solutions; they are a cost-effective and adaptable solution when standard power supplies lack the necessary customization or when custom designs prove too expensive or time consuming.
Adaptability
Configurable supplies can easily adapt to evolving needs in dynamic environments where requirements change frequently, such as laboratories or flexible manufacturing setups.
Summary
Configurable power supplies are invaluable for diverse applications, offering tailored outputs for devices with varying voltage and current requirements, facilitating rapid prototyping, and optimizing device performance during testing and validation. In dynamic environments like laboratories, these power supplies easily adapt to evolving needs, providing a versatile power solution across various industries.
Please contact our technical support team for more information on our industry-leading configurable power supplies.
Hafiz Khalid
Hafiz is XP Power’s Director of Product Marketing. He has worked in design, application, solution engineering, and product management roles for various products for the past 15 years. Previously, he was Senior Product Manager at XP Power and High Voltage designer with EMCO High Voltage which was acquired by XP Power in 2015
