Superior Quality
If you want a power supply that lives up to a 5 year warranty and doesn’t fail in the field, you have to design in superior quality. This page spotlights key differences between superior and ordinary power supplies.
1. Y CAPS
Elpac uses high quality Y caps which provide superior EMI suppression, compared to the often
sub-standard Y caps used by others. As a result, your product will speed through EMI lab testing.
2. MOSFETS
Elpac uses mosfets with higher voltage ratings with lower Rds On ratings.
3. CORES
Elpac uses very high quality cores from leading manufactures as TDK, Siemens which are low loss materials causing cooler designs. Therefore, your Elpac units run much more efficiently,
cooler, and last longer.
4. OUTPUT CAPACITORS
Elpac typically uses 3-4 output capacitors (from high quality manufacturers), where others typically
use only two (from inexpensive generic sources). Since the output capacitor is often the first part
to fail in a power supply, Elpac utilizes these critical components at far less than their rated load.
Thus, the Elpac design extends the life of your product..
5. BOARD
Elpac uses high quality FR4 board, where some others use paper boards. FR4 delivers superior
moisture resistance so that your product benefits from reduced potential for dielectric failures.
6. OUTPUT INDUCTOR
Elpac uses a high quality torroid inductor on the output to suppress radiated EMI, where ordinary
power supplies use a very small output inductor. As a result of this superior EMI suppression, the
Elpac product speeds through EMI lab testing.
Demonstrated MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure)
Demonstrating MTBF is a key element of how Elpac delivers superior quality and assures our customers lower field failures. Ordinary power supply manufacturers "calculate" MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure, or the average time a device will function before failing) as a way of suggesting that their power supplies last a long time. Elpac doesn’t believe this tells the whole story. We know that "calculated" results are subject to the assumptions they are based upon. To remove any doubt, Elpac "demonstrates" MTBF on all series by conducting extensive life testing.
Our life tests consist of running real units under higher than normal temperature ranges (e.g. 40ºC, not 25ºC), and stressing the units with severe on/off cycling at full load. This cycle is repeated until either a failure occurs or the tests are terminated. The figure above shows results on several series of switching power supplies and a view of a typical test setup.
Please note that Elpac also conducts 100% ATE, 100% burn-in, 100% vibration testing and 100% Hipot (dielectric) testing on every power supply we ship. As a result, you can be even more comfortable with the quality of Elpac power supplies and recognize the added value of the Elpac industry-leading five year warranty.