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Harnessing Digital Control for Enhanced Medical Power Solutions
As healthcare technology advances to meet the demands of an aging population and the need for early disease detection, the number of medical applications is rapidly expanding. Powering these complex systems presents unique challenges, but new digital configurable power solutions offer significant advantages, providing control and communication capabilities with medical power supply units (PSUs) on demand.
About Horizon Electronics
Horizon Electronics is a leading provider of advanced power supply solutions tailored to meet the specific needs of various industries, including healthcare, defense, and industrial sectors. With a strong focus on innovation and reliability, Horizon Electronics delivers a diverse range of products designed to meet stringent industry standards. We are proud to distribute power solutions from many renowned brands, including cutting-edge technologies from Advanced Energy, ensuring that our customers have access to the best solutions available on the market.
Meeting the Power Demands of Modern Medical Systems
Medical devices, particularly large-scale systems, often present intricate power challenges. These require advanced power schemes with multiple rails and, occasionally, non-standard voltages to support specialized sensors and magnetic controls. To address these complexities, configurable power supplies have gained popularity in medical applications due to their unparalleled design flexibility. Advanced Energy’s power solutions, distributed by Horizon Electronics, feature a mains-fed front end and multiple output modules, offering the ability to generate a variety of voltages. Modules can be combined in series or parallel configurations, meeting the stringent demands of even the most challenging applications.
For healthcare applications, the configurable power supplies are designed and certified to comply with critical medical standards such as EN/IEC 60601. This ensures patient and operator safety while controlling parameters like leakage current to meet the necessary limits. This certification process gives engineers the confidence that once configured, the power supply will seamlessly integrate into the larger system without hindering overall certification.
Tommy Obrien from Advanced Energy explains how to Leverage Digital Power for Medical Applications:
“Digital technology is increasingly integral to the control and communication capabilities of power supplies. This digital integration is particularly beneficial during the power scheme design process, where engineers must make complex trade-off decisions. By enabling power supplies to monitor key parameters like voltage, current, and temperature, digital control significantly reduces the need for expensive test equipment and minimizes setup time.
Once the system is deployed, continuous monitoring of these parameters provides an early warning system for potential issues. For example, an unexpected increase in a current draw or a rapid temperature rise could indicate an impending failure elsewhere in the system, allowing for proactive investigation and resolution.
In addition to monitoring, the PMBus™ digital interface enables precise configuration and control of the power supply, tailoring it to specific application needs. By compensating for variances within the power supply, external components can be minimized or eliminated, reducing the overall size and cost of the system.
For instance, in applications with large complex impedances, high levels of inrush current are expected. With minor firmware adjustments, the rise time of the power supply can be modified to control this inrush current, all through a simple software update.
Moreover, in scenarios where the output module’s current capability exceeds the application’s requirements, PMBus can be used to adjust the current limit, ensuring enhanced safety. For example, a module designed for 20 A can be configured to supply only 3 A, aligning with the specific needs of the application”.
Configurable Technology at Horizon Electronics
Horizon Electronics offers configurable modular power supplies for medical applications. For example, the CX1800 series from Advanced Energy delivers up to 1800 W of power with efficiency levels reaching 91%. These units are ideal for a wide range of medical applications, including diagnostic equipment, medical lasers, dialysis, and radiology. The CX1800 is certified to IEC60601-1 3rd Edition, offering 2 x MOPP (Means of Patient Protection), and complies with IEC60601-1-2 4th Edition for EMC.
In a compact 1U high package, each CX1800 unit features six slots for output modules, allowing for up to twelve separate outputs, all isolated from the input (1,850 VAC). Additionally, a 23.5 W auxiliary power output is available for system standby functions. With a footprint of just 262 mm x 127 mm x 41 mm (10.5” x 5” x 1U), the CX1800 boasts an MTBF of over 200,000 hours, backed by a standard five-year warranty. Horizon Electronics offers 13 different output modules, including options for single and dual outputs, high power, high voltage, and wide trim capabilities.
Addressing Real-World Challenges with Digital Power
These configurable power supplies are designed to address real-world challenges. Consider a medical system heater requiring multiple fixed resistances, driven by a constant yet adjustable current to maintain the desired temperature. Traditionally, such an application would need multiple power modules in series to achieve 180 VDC. However, the CX1800 series, as described by Tommy O’Brien, offers a single module that suffices, with firmware adjustments ensuring the current can be finely tuned down to zero. This customized solution was rapidly deployed and tested on-site by application engineers.
In another instance, a customer developing a mobile scanning application needed to set custom current limits and control the variable fan speed of their power supply, even in an idle state. A ‘store all’ command was added to the firmware, enabling the storage of PMBus set parameters. Additionally, a new PMBus command allowed for fan speed control, enhancing the usability of the power supply without any hardware modifications.
Conclusion
Horizon Electronics offers modular, medically certified configurable power supplies that are the ideal choice for addressing the complex needs of modern healthcare applications. The addition of digital capabilities further enhances the flexibility of these solutions. During development, digital communication speeds up the debugging process, eliminating the need for complex test equipment. Once deployed, the same communication capabilities provide ongoing monitoring and early warnings of system failures.
Furthermore, PMBus-based digital control allows for custom functionality to be introduced via firmware adjustments, enabling tailored performance to meet the specific requirements of individual customer applications.
