Product Development
Power Electronics R&D
Converdan’s engineers are masters of all disciplines in power electronics product development. We hand-pick the best talent in the field and help our staff continuously to grow their abilities in an atmosphere that’s as much like as university campus as a busy company ever can be. Our team’s competencies cover every type of power electronics technology ranging from 1 watt switch mode powers supplies and motor controllers to high power uninterruptible power supplies and inverters in the megawatt range.
Getting products right at the design phase is critical. Once a product has been put into production, no more than 5-10 % of the cost base can be changed. Power electronics design is tricky, with many pitfalls for generalist electronics engineers and even brilliant engineers whose specialty is elsewhere. Countless product launches have been delayed by having to re-think design decisions about power, not to mention product recalls and product liability. Our highly experienced team can cut your project’s time to market and reduce your business risks when you take advantage of our passion for power electronics.
Hardware
Reliable Power Electronics Hardware
Converdan engineers are highly experienced in the design, qualification and testing of virtually any type of power electronics product, ranging from low power switch mode power supplies (SMPS) to high power UPS and inverter designs well into the MW range.
Therefore we can select the most appropriate circuit topologies; specify key passive components along with semiconductor type and technology selection through to thermal management techniques. Furthermore we make sure that everything fits perfectly with your needs and requirements.
Converter Control
Intelligent Converter Control Systems
High-performance control is a key element in most converter systems. Over ther years digital signal processor (DSP) techniques have emerged as a cost-effective solution to inverter control.
Powerful 16-bit and 32-bit DSPs in fixed or floating point modes often incorporate all the necessary circuitry required by power electronics applications such as: PWM channels, A/D converters, CAN interfaces, internal and/or external memory, serial ports, event timers, and encoder interfaces.
Digital Signal Processor (DSPs)
We often prefer to use Microchip dsPIC controllers for low complexity designs and the broad range of Texas Instruments DSPs for more demanding applications.
Modelling and simulation
We have many years of experience in modelling and simulating with passive components, motors/generators, power electronics devices and their associated control systems.
We prefer to use PLECS® for this purpose, because of its capabilities with multi domain simulation and integrating C-script and processor-in-the-loop capabilities into the simulation.
Simulating using the actual C-files for the SW implementation, makes the simulation results correlate extremely well with real life measurements, which allows us to quickly evaluate all aspects of a complete converter system and tune its behaviour at an early stage in the design.
Software
Embedded Software
We are passionate about developing embedded software for power electronics applications – and have many years of experience doing so. Embedded software is one of the cornerstones of today’s innovative converter solutions with their high demands for functionality, quality and easy maintenance and update it in the field. As the Internet of Things (IoT) begins to influence all technical disciplines, Converdan foresees a big future for IoT in power electronics. That’s a new dimension for most power electronics engineers, but our experience in embedded software engineering puts Converdan ahead of the industry.
In particular, we have experience within the following areas of embedded software design:
- Critical converter control loops (ADC, PWM, interrupts etc.).
- CPLD/FPGA.
- SPI/I2C.
- Hardware drivers.
Communication and field bus hardware:
- CAN communication.
- Modbus/RS422/RS485
- Ethernet/WiFi.
- RS232/USB.
We often prefer to use Microchip dsPIC controllers and MCU for low complexity designs and the broad range of Texas Instruments DSPs and ARM MCUs for more demanding applications.
Project Mangagement
Converdan's project management model integrates product development and manufacturing
Converdan sees your product development project as a total business project, not a technical exercise. Naturally, our project management model reflects that approach to product development. Sound project management is key to the delivery of your product to market on schedule.
Our project managers have many years of experience with power electronics projects, large and small.
More than any other class of electronics, a power electronics product demands true integrated product development with cross-functional disciplines such as hardware, control engineering, embedded software, mechanics, manufacturing and testing to be completed successfully.
Converdan's project management model:
What are the advantages?
Using a platform based project model, offers a wide range of advantages compared to traditional ways of product development for low to medium volume customized products:
- Very short time to market
- Low business risks
- Cross-product pooling of components and strategic inventory yields lower prices and improved availability
- Field-proven and trusted technology
- Research into new technologies is not required to maintain a leading position
Fully industrialized design from day-one ensures:
- High product quality
- Lean manufacturing
- No specialized test and burn equipment required
- Product lifecycle management at a fraction of the cost
EMC & Safety Approval
Design for Product Safety & EMC Compliance
Whether your product is intended for the domestic, European or world market, one thing goes – if you do not have product safety and EMC approval, commercially you have no product!
Product safety
We have successfully taken products through UL/ETL/VDE approval with no requirement for modifications, in just a few months from start to approval. This is a true testimony to the experience we have in designing for compliance with specific EN, VDE and UL standards on product safety. In particular, we have experience with EN60204-1 on electrical safety for machines, EN61010-1 on safety requirements for Electrical Equipment for Measurement, Control, and Laboratory Use and EN50178 Electronic equipment for use in power installations.
Our work often includes:
- CE labelling involving Low Voltage Directive (LVD), EMC Directive and Machine Directive.
- Technical filing.
- User and service/repair guides.
- Risk Assessment and FMEA.
EMC - Electromagnetic Compatibility
We have on numerous occasions successfully taken power electronics products through tough domestic EMC compliance testing on emissions with no requirement for modifications, which clearly shows our extensive experience in designing for compliance with specific EN/IEC standards on EMC emission and immunity. In house we have equipment for carrying out different pre-compliance tests, but full compliance testing is carried out at one of a number of external test houses we regularly work with.
Mechanics - Stay Cool – Be Reliable
High-performance power electronics cannot be achieved without optimized mechanical design. Operating temperature, product lifetime, EMC footprint, power density and other factors are all affected by the choices made by the mechanical engineers, therefore Converdan mechanical designers have a solid understanding of electronics, allowing them to create the best solutions for our partners.
We bring our mechanical expertise to areas like:
- Thermal management using aluminium, copper and liquid cooling.
- 3D integrated design with PCB layout engineering.
- Sheet metal design.
- Plastic parts.
- Machined parts.
What do our customers say?
Case Studies
Case Study: High voltage frequency converter for Vetaphone
Joint product development brings high voltage frequency converter from concept to manufacture.
Case Study: Inverters for wind turbines, Orbital A/S
Converdan develops inverters for wind turbines in close collaboration with Orbital A/S
Case Study: Electronic Control Systems for Evosep
Converdan delivers electronic control systems, PCB development and high quality product box build for the Medtech company Evosep.