Dear Friends,

Railway appliances a main application area for ruggedized high-power DC/DC converters. As passengers expect many amenities, the design and selection of power supplies becomes more challenging.

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Mouser Bench Talk for Design Engineers:

Power on the Railway Track

Modern rail vehicles are packed with electronics for communications and control, with passengers also increasingly expecting cellular repeaters and Wi-Fi® services with 'clean' AC mains and USB DC power available at each seat. Because of the environment and the diverse nature of connected equipment, power conversion is becoming increasingly distributed. Each converter that interfaces between the raw DC bus, the train electronics, and passengers' expensive portable devices must be designed to meet the bus voltage's electrical specification.

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Specially designed DC-DC converters in power in-vehicle electronic equipment must adhere to EN 50155 in each of the following ways:

• Input voltage range
• Electromagnetic compatibility
• Mechanical shock and vibration
• Temperature and humidity
• Isolation voltage

Designing for compliance with EN 50155 is not an easy task in electrical and environmental conditions that are just about as hostile as it gets. Commercial off-the-shelf solutions will most often simply not fit the specification, especially for long-term reliability. Specially designed converters from CUI Inc and Bel Power Solutions offer safe solutions with a long track record.