What does a military power supply company do?
In a sense, a military power supply company is not much different from other manufacturers of power supplies with two exceptions. Testing is much more rigorous due to the additional need to comply with MIL-STDs and due to the strict requirements solutions need to be cleverly designed. While this sounds like a slight difference there is a lot more work involved when design and testing new products. To help with getting products to market, military power supply manufacturers may provide clients with different options to help reduce the weeks of testing required for new products through modular and customizable solutions.
Incorporating Client Needs
Where a product does not need the performance optimization achieved by a completely new design, semi-customizable (light modification) designs that have had each configuration pre-tested can quickly get products to market by a military power supply company. For example, a new case may need to be tested for pressurized environments, water and contaminant sealing. Furthermore, drop testing of designs may be required along with more extreme destructive tests that could mean at least 75 cases would need to be tested destructively for each new product. The initial testing costs can be extensive and therefore reducing it can lead to drastic saving per unit.
Conversely, if you need performance such as for aerospace applications where excessive weight and a custom form-factor is required the development and MIL-STD testing costs along with standard product testing costs may be a needed outlay; with costs passed on to the client by the military power supply company.
Most design principles follow the 80%:20% rule where in the design development stage the majority of costs are attributed to 20% of the work in new designs. It makes sense then for military power supply manufacturers to have a light modification option that will enable clients to modify a design by up to 20% without needing new testing conducted. A good example of this is the face plate where some clients may want a visual display or different I/O ports. These changes are easy to process during production and so long as pre-tested I/O and controls are assessed designs will still meet MIL-STD requirements. Interestingly, 80% of clients that need a more bespoke power supply can get away with this compromise, with the remaining 20% needing a fully bespoke solution.
MIL-STD Testing
For those that don’t know, MIL-STD testing originally was developed to stop the spoilage of food that needed to be air-dropped into the battlefield during WW2. Commercial tin-cans were not fit for purpose as they would rupture, rust in adverse conditions and be almost impossible to open by soldiers who didn’t have a can opener. MIL-STDs were developed based on the expected and extreme conditions that could be faced by products on the battlefield, form air drops to extreme temperatures, shock and extreme changes in pressures during transportation. Military power supply manufacturers have standards based on these battlefield expectations along with the lifecycle of the product being taken into account, from manufacturing, storage, logistics and use. For example, many power supply products must be designed without fans to reduce the need for maintenance of power supplies in platforms that may not be accessible during war time. Also holes into the device that can cause dust and water to ingress and destroy the device are mitigated where possible.
Summary
A military power supply manufacturer can provide clients with off the shelf, light modification and fully custom solutions for their needs. Whatever your needs a military power supply company can offer a durable solution that will be reliable and robust.
