Asian Power Devices: Powering modern technology in an ever-shifting landscape

News coverage: EETIMES US

Technology has changed dramatically in recent years – and with these changes have come increased demand for the power that keeps our technology running reliably.

Asian Power Devices (APD) has been the power experts since 1994, with a focus on power electronics and new energy technologies. With world-class technology research and development capabilities, coupled with highly competitive products and services, APD occupies an important position in the global market.

APD’s three core business groups – power systems, uninterruptible power system (UPS), and new energy – are laser-focused on driving innovation in power products to support the technology of tomorrow.

APD’s product areas include power supplies, UPS, and solar photovoltaic converters (inverters). Asian Power Devices is constantly in pursuit of the next step in innovative power systems, driving towards a more sustainable and energy efficient future.

APD Solutions– Built for the challenges of today

Sometimes, the needs for reliable power are even greater in an uncertain world. If there is anything that has brought the most serious impact and challenge to the current world economic situation and people’s living conditions, it must be the things surrounding COVID-19.

COVID-19 has caused the suspension of most commercial activities and a serious threat to our health and safety. The changes brought to our lives are far more than just the superficial status quo, and it has not only greatly promoted the new state of affairs.

On the one hand, the home economics and work situation of people have expanded to respond more to the demand for network equipment supply. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home, online meetings and distance learning have become the new normal. This has stimulated a surge in network usage, and there is an urgent need to expand the capacity of switches and routers, which has brought booming family economic opportunities.

APD carried out business transformation in 2008, shifting its goal from the general power supply market to a market segment with higher technical barriers. In addition to medical power solutions, APD is also committed to network equipment power solutions. In other words, APD has developed powerful functions in network equipment power solutions.

APD specifically designs high-performance and high-reliability open power supplies for leading network equipment manufacturers, provides them with strong support, and helps them grasp the economic opportunities of their homes.

The medical field is fast becoming an increasingly important industry for APD power supplies

And on the other hand, the impact on medical places is even more urgent, including ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and respiratory humidifiers. Equipment must ensure that it can maintain a lasting, uninterrupted and stable power supply.

Especially for hospitals, having clean and reliable power can be the difference between life and death. To this end, for years hospitals have relied on high-quality power supply related systems. However, the advent of COVID-19 has thrown another variable into the equation for medical professionals. With hospitals encountering massive surges in the number of patients under their care, they simply cannot afford to have issues with the reliability and availability of their power source. Many hospitals are approaching (or even going beyond) maximum capacity, which means that a loss of power would be catastrophic to many more patients. Furthermore, this increase in the number of patients has meant that many more devices and medical systems connected to the hospital’s power grid – potentially adding a great deal of strain on the system.

The toll of COVID-19 on the medical field is certainly not limited to the hospital itself. With this surge in patients comes an increased need for medical equipment. This includes everything from ventilators to hospital beds to personal protection equipment and much more. This increased demand for medical devices and equipment sent a shock wave down the supply chain, where factories are dealing with labor shortages resulting from quarantines and lockdowns. In response, many factories are accelerating their journey towards increased automation – further driving the need for strong and reliable power sources.

“When there is a surge in demand, there is a rise of overvoltage due to backfeeding during peak load operating conditions, especially when a ventilator for critical care pumps air with a high pressure into a patient’s lungs. In view of this, power supply units (PSU) must be able to support higher peak loads for longer periods to ensure the system maintains stable operation. APD’s peak power design can effectively reduce power loss, lower PSU operating temperature, and boost reliability. Moreover, its patented overvoltage protection circuit safeguards the system and PSU from damage caused by excess voltage from PSU output,” said Mark Tang, sales vice president, APD’s power system business group, he put forward an example of the necessity of this type of stable power is with ventilators.

APD’s medical power solutions are compliant with IEC 60601 Safety Requirement for Medical Equipment. They have also been certified to meet radio frequency interference requirements in accordance with Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics DO-160G for Airborne Equipment, which is widely considered to be more stringent than medical equipment standards. This means their leakage current is minimal even under normal operating conditions, thereby protecting the PSU from failure resulting from high-frequency 4G/5G signal interference.

More importantly, APD has abundant experience in designing power solutions for medical ventilators. Its customized power solutions for global medical ventilator suppliers fully meet their EMI, temperature, and peak load requirements.

As a response and strategies to the above problems, in fact, APD has been committed to developing customized power supply solutions for medical equipment and network equipment for many years. The establishment of high-performance and high-reliability power solutions is the goal that APD has adhered to in its ten-year effort. APD continues to enhance its high degree of professionalism in key technologies, and assists global partners in the fight against COVID-19 while expanding the market.

To support the mission-critical devices with a stable and continuous power is also matters

The other point for the hospitals is to protect their mission-critical devices and support them with a stable and continuous power so that they can maintain reliable operation and keep patients healthy and safe.

Asian Power Devices also has the experience and industry knowledge to not only meet the challenges of 2020 head-on, but also provide the medical community with the power products they need in order to provide top-notch care.

In fact, in view of the importance of UPS products to the healthcare industry, APD’s UPS business team has built a series of customized lithium-ion UPS products based on its robust R&D capabilities. Not only does it aim to provide high-reliability and high-quality power solutions for factory automation, 5G, and IoT applications, it also targets medical applications as a key focus area.

These lithium-ion batteries are being used in place of traditional lead-acid batteries for UPS systems which, in turn, results in multiple benefits that make them ideally suited for healthcare applications. Lithium-ion battery UPS systems have twice the energy density and twice the life span compared to lead-acid battery UPS systems, so they help provide a significant reduction in maintenance and replacement costs. Their footprint is also reduced by half, in keeping with users’ expectation for small and lightweight UPS systems. Lithium-ion batteries are superior to lead-acid batteries for UPS systems in every way. With growing and wide-spread use, their prices will become more competitive.

APD’s UL 60601-1 certified lithium-ion UPS is proven to effectively reduce leakage current and electromagnetic interference, thereby enabling optimal protection for medical devices. Furthermore, in consideration of the fact that a lithium-ion UPS system packs twice the energy density in half the footprint of traditional systems, APD takes every precaution to design their systems with safe components. The company selects only premium quality protection components that comply with the most rigorous standards so that medical device manufacturers and users alike can rest assured of the safety of APD’s lithium-ion UPS products.

When it comes to ensuring that hospitals and healthcare equipment manufacturing organizations have UPS systems they can trust, APD delivers reliable, robust, and trustworthy solutions that are up to even the biggest challenges of today.

When performance matters, choose APD

From the medical staff at hospitals who rely on clean power to keep their patients alive and manufacturing lines whose uptime is essential to fighting COVID-19, to organizations whose business continuity is suddenly reliant on a mobile, remote workforce, having UPS and power supply technology that can be relied on is simply mission critical. Which is why when it comes to your most important systems, choosing a power system manufacturer with the right combination of technology, expertise and experience is essential.

So, when performance and reliability matter – and failure is not an option – APD can actually plays as a reliable partner in the development of solutions in the medical field. For more detailed information, please visit the official website:  https://www.apd.com.tw/en