Crush the life out of power electronics issues -

We get our share of projects where we are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.

In contrast, our established clients invite us in at project start to mull over requirements and report back in lecture format to their engineers in an open discussion as to why certain approaches are much better than others.

Here's why -

you need power electronics and systems advice earlier rather than later - especially in higher power or highly complex, multi-variate designs ...

1) Consultants have a very wide knowledge base to start from and so can quickly zero in on the best solution

- what are all the uses?

- what standards need to be met?

- what protection should be included ?

- how are you going to manufacture?

- are some of the mooted specifications really necessary?

- what does the end user / client really want?

- do they know what they really want?

- what can we change to make life easier all the way through...?

In house engineers can be reluctant to ask the hard questions of management and principle clients.

Consultants are up to speed on the latest manufacturing technologies - designing for these from the off makes a huge difference to end cost of product.

2) Some one with 25+ years in power electronics likely knows all the subtle ways a power electronic circuit and it's control can be tweaked (or changed completely) to get the performance you really need,

- which control chips to avoid ( and there are plenty )

- which topologies are bad news for RFI

- which layouts really work for EMC

- what will easily pass safety standards and what won't.

They also have a raft of clever solutions up their sleeve that will make a mediocre design really very much better.

A consultant's designs are refined to use least bits, maximise performance, and make sense, all with an eye on cost - from the get go.

Does your in house engineer have this measure of experience ?

3) Design of control ( and all the what if's ? )

- this cannot be overstated - designing your control to handle all eventualities in a defined way is critical to making a reliable product

- power electronics consultants have often studied and tested control concepts for many more hours than the average engineer - their knowledge of how a control loop reacts with the whole system can be a critical time saver in any project - setting a control strategy at the outset that will work is a blessing that will be appreciated by anyone designing and developing to a time line.

4) Setting the best technical direction at the outset of a project is crucial in getting to the end goal in a reasonable time at reasonable cost.

A lot of projects have hidden assumptions at the outset that lead to being painted into a corner at testing time with no easy or cheap way to correct.

Intelligent choice of uP platforms, data gathering, efficient glitch free comm's, clever aux power circuits, - just getting the most out of every part.

One example, you heatsink all your semi's to a pcb, but then you fail all the RFI / EMC

- or worse the control does not work due to all the noise from the power stage

- there is no room for snubber circuits, or,

to put in properly heat-sunk devices - on a heatsink - allowing you to alter the turn on speed to try and improve matters.

A lot of effort and revisions can result in a dead line of enquiry ... not the

deadline you were hoping for.

5) Consultants know about mechanical design issues, thermodynamics, heat flows & cooling, phase change materials

- all in conjunction with EMC,

- properties of special insulators

- what you can't put through a reflow process,

- properties of components

- which capacitors will last under high current - which won't,

- even what mosfets to trust in critical applications

- all learned from years of observation, hard work and real testing.

6) Overall layout, not only of the power electronics but everything in the enclosure - makes a huge difference to passing EMC and the product working properly.

Summary: where a keen employee has the best intentions - a consultant has the best training - often 25+ years worth, where an employee has hopes of a circuit working - a consultant has history of seeing designs that do and don't work ( and why ) and of having tested same - and having even better IP at their fingertips ...

Get your power electronics project off to the best start - rather than just a hopeful and well meaning start -

pwrtrnx.com