I recently received a question from one of
our sales people about to what extent the new Department of Energy’s Level VI
will affect our customers, and asked me to comment on it. As usual with my blogs, let us look at the
background.
The power supply industry, in particular
those who manufacture external or adapter power supplies, has been aware of the
US Department of Energy’s legislation on the efficiency standards for External Power
Supplies (EPS). This legislation was
made final on April 11, 2014 and comes into effect February 10, 2016. The intent is to reduce waste energy both
from off-load operation and normal operation.
Details of this lengthy, but detailed, final
ruling can be found on this link: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EERE-2008-BT-STD-0005-0219
I remember many years back when energy
efficiency standards for power supplies were first discussed. Initially the reaction was “it is only a few
Watts, why bother”, but with the staggering number of external power supplies
now being used (and it is expected to grow in future years) those few Watts
soon adds up to billions of dollars in electricity and the associated
environmental pollution.
Most people leave their laptop/tablet/phone
chargers plugged in 24 hours a day, and that applies to numerous gaming
consoles and other electronic equipment.
Power supplies continue to draw power when not supplying load and legislation
has been introduced to set (decreasing) limits year on year by multiple
bodies. In addition that legislation has
gradually increased the minimum operating efficiency – this is measured at four
loading levels; 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent of maximum rated output current.
There has been though, some debate and
confusion about what types of EPSs are actually covered by the legislation. This is significant as the DoE ruling forbids
the imports of these types of power supplies after the February deadline if
they do not meet the new efficiency standards.
It is made clear that EPSs for some medical applications (those
requiring FDA approval and listing) are exempt.
Spares are also excluded from the import ban.
Looking at the final ruling web-link
provided above, it states in section III General Discussion, B. Product Classes
and Scope of Coverage, 1. General:
An “external power supply” is an external
power supply circuit that is used to convert household electric current
into DC current or lower-voltage AC current to operate a consumer product.
1. Is designed to convert line voltage AC input into lower voltage
AC or DC output;
2. is able to convert to only one AC or DC output voltage at a time;
3. is sold with, or intended to be used with, a separate end-use
product that constitutes the primary load;
4. is contained in a separate physical enclosure from the end-use
product;
5. is connected to the end-use product via a removable or hard-wired
male/female electrical connection, cable, cord, or other wiring; and
6. has nameplate output power that is less than or equal to 250
watts.
Section 2: Definition of Consumer Product” is where the DoE noted
that some companies have made comments questioning the vagueness of the
term. Schneider Electric commented that
the definition of consumer product is “virtually unbounded” and “provides no
definitive methods to distinguish commercial or industrial products from
consumer products.”
The DoE ruling refers to an EPCA (Energy
Policy and Conservation) document that defines a consumer product as:
“any
article of a type that consumes or is designed to consume energy and which, to
any significant extent, is distributed in commerce for personal use or
consumption by individuals.” For
clarification, manufacturers are advised to consult this document:
https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/pdfs/cce_faq.pdf
To answer our salesperson’s question - one
thing is for sure, embedded (installed internally to the end equipment) and DIN
rail power supplies are not affected by this legislation. It only applies to EPSs that are contained in
a separate physical enclosure from the end-use product.
Does this affect an EPS designed for and
sold for use with commercial or industrial products? I think there will still be some debate on
that, but there is strong evidence in the final ruling that they are not
covered and hence exempt. The document
refers to “household electric current”, “personal use” and “consumption by
individuals”. It is very clear that if
an EPS manufacturer is producing a product that could likely end up in your
home, it has to abide with the legislation.
As a note, TDK-Lambda has launched a number
of external power supplies that comply with Level VI efficiency standards. TDK-Lambda’s new industrial products also
have low off-load power draws and efficiencies in excess of 90%.
Power Guy
