Real-Time Testing to Solve Your Design Challenges at AE’s Customer Experience Centers

Advanced Energy’s customers are in the business of designing complex and mission-critical products that propel innovation forward. We believe it is important to partner and collaborate wherever our customers develop technology and products around the world. By defining industry-leading precision power, measurement and control solutions, we enable our customers to reach ever-new heights in reliability, control and efficiency. In addition to our broad product portfolio, we work side-by-side with our customers throughout their product lifecycle.

AE’s Customer Experience Centers (CECs) provide an important collaboration space for our applications engineering teams to help solve customer design challenges. Located in key technology development clusters, our global network and local support teams power our solutions that address customers’ needs.

Medical Customer Experience Centers

At our Sharon, MA center, for example, we take development and product optimization to an especially high level of capability and value. The Sharon CEC is designed as a center for innovation in medical power supplies with collaborative design workshops. This level of customer intimacy is unique to Advanced Energy and is at the heart of our mission.

The CEC’s engineering team supports rapid problem identification. EMC, EMI and thermal issues are the most common challenges that occur when integrating power products into a system. Therefore, AE’s CEC is furnished with sophisticated EMC, semi-anechoic EMI, thermal and electronic test equipment. A variety of real-time tests are available, ranging from DC load emulation and failure analysis to functional tests, thermal tests and pre-compliance tests. Beyond providing the test data, we deliver detailed analyses that empower our customers to make critical design decisions. With the importance of regulatory compliance in medical application, we also provide pre-compliance testing as a value-added service, accelerating our customer’s time-to-market.

Partnering to Solve Customer Challenges

A leading medical manufacturer recently partnered with AE to create a custom solution for their cardiac monitoring and assist device. As their previous design exhibited erratic operation when integrated to the device, the manufacturer reached out to AE to solve this critical issue.

The customer visited Advanced Energy’s Medical CEC in Sharon to conduct analysis and testing. Analyses of the system load showed that while the normal quiescent power draw was less than half of the power supply rating, peak currents caused erratic operation.

The CEC team recommended a power supply with lower power rating and additional peak current capability. This solution is less costly while providing the steady state and peak currents required by the system.

AE’s CEC experts worked with the customer to customize our standard Advanced Energy SL Power MB120 AC-DC medical power supply. Modifications included peak current capability, CF Isolation rating, <10µA patient leakage current, as well as added cables to allow easy integration to the device. During the qualification phase, the customer visited AE’s CEC numerous times to test and troubleshoot EMI performance, conduct thermal analysis and test leakage current at the system level. With the support of the design engineering team, the customized product was quickly documented and readied for production.

Global Customer Experience Centers

In addition to our Sharon CEC, medical customers can tap into AE’s design and applications engineering teams at our Calabasas, Cork and Israel sites. Our collaborative development center in Seoul works with semiconductor and industrial customers to develop and deploy advanced plasma technologies with repeatability and control essential for thin film production. Industrial and horticultural lighting customers benefit from AE’s applications engineering capabilities at the Eden Prairie design center, while our Milpitas lab is just a short drive away from many customers in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Learn more about AE’s CECs and collaborative development centers here. We look forward to partnering with you to solve your design challenges.