The CE identification mark is accepted across the entire European Community. It is an indication that the product to which it is applied to conforms with the minimum requirements of all the applicable European Directives for that product, and that duly authorized assessment procedures (technical files) have been carried out on that product.
The most common power supply Directive is the Low Voltage Directive (LVD), EC number 73/23/EEC, which came into force in 1973. This applies to all electrical equipment with an AC input voltage of between 50 and 1000 V for alternating current and between 75 and 1500 V for direct current.
Many DC-DC board mount converters are hence exempt from this directive if they have a nominal input voltage of 5VDC, 12VDC or 24VDC provided the input range is not 75VDC or higher.
Most 48V input DC-DC converters have a DC input range of 36V to 75VDC and so fall under the Directive. 4 : 1 input range models (18 - 75VDC) would also be covered.
A link to the LVD can be found here http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/electr_equipment/lv/index.htm
Update: The CE mark now covers RoHS2, so the marking will apply to lower input voltage converters
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3 comments:
Getting a CE Mark is a must for products and machinery within the jurisdiction of the European Free Trade Area. Compliance assures us, the consumers of high standard of quality and safety.
We are building a computer with a CE marked external power supply. We have been told that the system still must comply with the LVD. Would we meet compliance if we state in our technical file that the power supply is certified (noting the certs and possibly obtaining copies of the reports) and that the computer itself is under 75VDC and therefor not subject to LVD?
Hi Remo,
This article pertains to the CE Mark as it applies to DC-DC converters. If you have a DC-DC converter and the input is <75V then no CE is required for the the converter. I believe the manufacturer of a computer would still need to have a CE mark for their system, though under the relevant safety standards for computers. For example, my Dell laptop has CE mark even though it uses an external AC-DC power supply with a low voltage output.
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