Selecting Medical Power Supplies
When it comes to selecting medical power supplies, great care must be taken. There are many environmental and safety considerations to be made.
These days, switchmode power supplies are all too common. You can find them being used in a wide range of medical equipment such as CT Scanners, X-Rays, PET Scanners, Patient Monitors, and Diagnostic Equipment, and so on .
In general, one of the key considerations made when choosing medical power supplies is size and mass. Medical power supplies need to be lightweight, small, efficient and reliable. Competitive pricing is also an added advantage.
Also, safety standards are very important too. These standards may vary according to the type of equipment, applications, user and operator proximity, location and general environment. Therefore, a careful analysis of the power supply is a must.
Operator and user proximity safety ranks right at the top of the consideration list. Many end users make the assumption that industrial standard power supplies maybe compatible for medical equipment. However, this is a very wrong assumption and it comes with a fair bit of risk.
Most medical equipment function with low-level signals and therefore, are very sensitive to EMI or Electro-Magnetic Interference. In fact, EMC or Electromagnetic Compatibility is another area of consideration with regard to choosing medical power supplies.
