Board mounted power supplies are an important part of many electronic systems. There are a number of reasons for that, among them, space savings, lower thermal footprint, and reduction in noise. With those advantages, specifying the right supply is an important task for the design or component engineer. And once you do, characterizing the device is important. The specifications from the manufacturer may be correct in their lab, but, verifying in your lab insures your end product is safe.
Characterizing a device can take many forms based on what the device is, but the overall goal is to insure the device is consistent with the specifications supplied and meets the design point for a given project. In the case of board mounted power supply, thermally characterization is part of this process.
The team at Ericsson has put together a white paper on the thermal characterization of board mounted power supplies in a sealed box: one of the more demanding thermal applications. In the white paper they note:
- Applications where board mounted power supplies may be most often used in a sealed box
- A suggested test set up to perform characterization that simulates a sealed box
- An example test to give engineers an idea of outcomes
The white paper does a good job at explaining these pieces and you can get your copy here: Ericsson Board Mounted Power Supply Thermal Characterization Procedure.
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