Go back

DCDC

DCDC converters can provide an effective, rapid, and cost-effective modular solution in power supplies and in isolating two different circuits. Any electronics expert will be familiar with the functional principle and circuit deign of a DCDC converter, and any reasonably experienced developer can build a DCDC converter from scratch. However, the additional work and costs involved should not be ignored in constructing a DCDC converter.

First, all of the tests already carried out by DCDC converter manufacturers would have to be carried out - whether reliability tests or isolation tests. Apart from that, efficiency and temperature drift in a modular DCDC converter design should be more advanced than in a custom-built DCDC converter using the same design basis.

If heavy demands are placed on certification, the costs for constructing a DCDC converter of this type can run into thousands of euros, a serious cost trap in limited-scale production runs of a few hundred to a few thousand items. It is far easier for a DCDC converter manufacturer to spread these costs over many times the number of items produced, and offer a range of certifications for one product.

Anyone that has tried to build a regulated primary frequency regulation, continuous short-circuit protection and tunable output from scratch knows the difficulties involved. Basic circuit design for the converter takes little time and the regulation and tuning are rapidly added, but electromagnetic shielding and thorough protection against external interference will make most developers wish they had opted for a plug-and-play solution instead. Many developers have long since taken the path of buying DCDC converter modules rather than building their own from scratch. Naturally, the same applies to ACDC modules.