Surge, noise, and harmonic countermeasures

This page introduces lightning surge and harmonic countermeasures in AC adapters. It covers compliance with IEC61000, proposals for high withstand voltage models guaranteed up to 10kV lightning surge, and support for custom power supplies. For custom power supplies, we also accept support such as adding varistors or arresters to the circuit board.

AC/DC Power Adapters — Desktop & Wall-Mount supports surge and noise protection. Various types of internal testing can be conducted to verify effectiveness.

What is a lightning surge?

How do you handle equipment failure due to lightning?

When lightning strikes near a building, high voltage may be induced in nearby power lines.
This high voltage is commonly referred to as a “lightning surge.” The high voltage generated can travel through power lines and reach household outlets, potentially causing appliances to malfunction or break due to the inability to withstand the high voltage.

Lightning surges are not simply something to “withstand.”
Damage from lightning surges can cause the AC/DC Power Adapters — Desktop & Wall-Mount to malfunction and continue operating without shutting down at the correct timing. This can lead to dangerous situations such as smoke or fire. Therefore, safety considerations must be addressed during the design phase to prevent such secondary disasters.

UNIFIVE can respond in detail to various custom power supply requests to prevent damage to devices caused by lightning surges.

Custom solutions for lightning surges

For general AC/DC Power Adapters — Desktop & Wall-Mount, compliance with IEC61000-4-5 level 2 or 3 is standard, but depending on customer needs, such as those looking for products guaranteed up to 10KV, high-voltage resistant AC/DC Power Adapters — Desktop & Wall-Mount are sometimes required, depending on the industry.

Lightning surge testing standards vary widely, from general specifications set by IEC and JEC to more specialized standards such as testing methods based on ITU-T standards used in the telecommunications industry.

Depending on the type of business, such as manufacturers of home appliances, communications or CATV equipment, or audio-related devices, many customers producing equipment that “must not fail due to lightning surges” have requested customized solutions. In many cases, we respond with custom adaptations. However, in actual production, the secondary-side grounding conditions vary depending on the equipment, affecting the surge entry paths. Extra care is required during customization to accommodate equipment-specific differences.

For these reasons, many of our custom solutions for lightning surge protection involve close collaboration with our customers. UNIFIVE can provide a wide range of AC/DC Power Adapters — Desktop & Wall-Mount.

In many typical cases, we propose a modified version of UNIFIVE’s base model AC/DC Power Adapters — Desktop & Wall-Mount with added components like a varistor or arrester. However, there are also numerous cases where the circuit board itself is custom-designed from scratch.

Compliance with latest harmonic regulations

We can also provide AC/DC Power Adapters — Desktop & Wall-Mount that comply with the latest harmonic regulation standards. We have experience developing power supplies that meet the newest harmonic regulations (over 5W) promoted by the Japan Lighting Manufacturers Association.

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