Joint product development brings high voltage frequency converter from concept to manufacture.
Vetaphone is a world-leading manufacturer of corona and plasma systems used to increase the surface adhesion on plastic and metalized films in extrusion or converting processes for the packaging industry.
“When we set out to design a new frequency converter to drive our high voltage power transformers, we turned to Converdan Engineering for assistance. Time-to-market was of the essence. Although we had the required engineering skills in-house, we teamed up with Converdan Engineering as a subcontractor to bring our new product to market faster.” says Frank Eisby, CEO at Vetaphone.
Product features not yet known to the industry
Demands on product specifications were considerable. The product was required to work reliably under the most severe conditions in a very harsh industrial environment, run continuously for 24 hours of the day, 365 days of the year, introducing at the same time several new product features not yet known to the industry.
Additionally, as the product should be deployable world-wide, it had to hold all major certifications and approvals. All of these requirements put great demands on the power electronics hardware and mechanical design decisions to be made.
Scope of Converdan Work:
Hardware (Control and Power):
- IGBT 2-level power
- Gate drivers
- High voltage SMPS
- DSP control board
- Protection features
On-board mini PLC and MMI:
- Mechanical design (including cooling system)
- Control algorithms
EMC and Reliability testing:
- Approvals: CE and UL
Timeline
The project was kicked off in August 2012 and engineering samples delivered after 4 months. It was completed on time in March 2014. On a later project, a 10kW 3-phase input variant was added to the range of products. This project was completed in 7 months with just 11 weeks to get an UL approval.
The target was a cost reduction of 25% over the existing power converter modules, but in fact 40% was achieved.
“Headed by an experienced Converdan project manager, our joint Vetaphone and Converdan project team brought the project safely through all phases from concept and project initiation to full volume manufacturing at a Converdan facility. We turned to Converdan for assistance back in 2011 and have worked with them ever since. The strategic cooperation is very strong, and we continuously innovate our products together with Converdan, and find this is a very effective way to continuously apply BAT (Best Available Technology) to our products.”
Vetaphone was founded in 1951 by Verner Eisby, the inventor of corona treatment. See more about Vetaphone here
Vetaphone's high voltage frequency converter:
