In the simplest terms, medical power supplies are the power supplies that generate conditioned electrical outputs for medical instruments, equipment, and devices. They are manufactured to meet the various safety standard which include electrical, dental, and medical equipment that is designed for professional use.
Safety standards ensure the reliability of medical devices, which is particularly essential in the field of medical. By meeting the safety standard, power supplies are termed medical-grade devices. An essential feature of these power supplies is their capability to separate the patient from any electrical signals.
Nowadays, individuals favor to utilized home healthcare devices and avoid hospitals, labs, diagnostic centers, and clinic visits, due to the increasing consciousness and worries of hospital-acquired infections. This has significantly boosted the adoption of home-use healthcare devices, therefore, boosting the requirement for medical power supplies.
AC-DC Vs. DC-DC Medical Power Supply
AC-DC
The AC-DC converters switch on the AC from wall outlets, converting it to energy that is unregulated DC. These power supplies are transformers that adjust the voltage of an electrical appliance coming from a wall outlet to DC, filters removing noise in the peaks and troths of these electric waves, and rectifiers for saving it from AC to DC. Normally, the transformer will reduce its voltage to correspond with that of the device being supplied.
Moreover, AC-DC is the most used medical power supply because of the growing consideration to decrease the consumption of electricity in healthcare equipment.
DC-DC
A DC converter is required at various solar voltage levels for devices that are particularly powered by solar cells or batteries, and it’s also where the DC converter comes into play. A DC-DC power supply is converted from one voltage level to another in response to the point-in-time requirements of a device being provided by converting direct current coming from a power source.
Types of Medical Power Supply
Some of the most common types of medical power supplies are:
• Open frame – In an open frame, components are fitted on an open board with no enclosure or outer packaging.
• Encapsulated – In encapsulated, the device is firmly covered in a casing or capsule.
• Enclosed – In enclosed, components are confined inside an enclosure to protect both equipment and the user.
Among these, enclosed is the most used type of medical power supply, because of its low current leakage and high efficiency, which led to less power consumption.
Countries across Asia are experiencing rising funding in research and development, a rise in the number of hospitals, advancement in medical facilities, and surging requirements for home-based medical facilities particularly for people suffering from severe illnesses or the elder generation.
Moreover, with the affordability and accessibility of power supplies, the rising installation base of innovative medical devices, as well as the commercialization of advanced medical equipment, the requirement for medical power supply will continue to increase, and it will reach a value of USD 2,394.5 million by the end of this decade.