Power Supply Basics
8
Mar

High efficiency power supply benefits

Posted by Dulcie on March 8, 2012
Posted in: Power Supply Basics

By Martin Southam, Director of Marketing, TDK-Lambda EMEA

Power supplies with efficiencies above 90% are becoming commonplace, especially those intended for use with professional electronics equipment. As the efficiency level of a power supply is increased, the wasted power decreases – so let’s compare a 91% efficient 400W power supply with a 94% efficient version. Just 3% improvement doesn’t sound much, does it? However, if we were to translate this into wasted energy, it is more revealing.

The 91% efficient version dissipates about 40W; for a 94% efficient power supply, on the other hand, only about 26W is wasted. That’s 14W less heat – in other words, more than one third less generated by the power supply within the end equipment. The net result is that the operating temperature inside the end equipment is lower, resulting in higher reliability – exactly what is required for professional electronic equipment.

Wasted Power for a 400W output power supply

Achieving 94% efficiency is not easy, so there are very few power supplies on the market today at this high level. With the introduction of TDK-Lambda’s next generation of digitally controlled AC-DC power supplies, the CFE400M series, our UK design team have met the challenge – no magic wands required, just a lot of clever engineering.

For more information, please visit: https://www.emea.lambda.tdk.com/uk/cfe