Over the last few months, both Delta and P-Duke have increased their product range of rail specific products, all of which conform to the industry standard EN50155. Our product specialists offer a brief guide to the rail specific products we support and some insights as to why they are different. All of these products have been specially designed to meet the harsh conditions found in the rail environment. With these including heat, frost, dust or vibration our range of dc/dc converters are up to the exceptional challenge.
What are DC/DC converters used for in Rail applications?
Engineers use DC/DC converters to convert battery power to stepdown to lower voltages, rolling stock uses a DC power distribution system for operation of control circuity be that in the actual driver cab, or to operate lights, doors, customer toilets and passenger information systems.
Typical rail applications requiring DC / DC Converters
Railway rolling stock
On board peripheral devices
Passenger information systems
Ticketing machines
Trackside applications
DC power distribution systems.
What is EN50155 and why does it matter?
The EN50155 (Railway Applications – Electronic equipment used on rolling stock) is a performance standard for electronic equipment found in railway applications. It’s there to ensure that the components used can function in the rail environment. It specifies minimum standards to enable the reliable performance required, such as operating temperature, shock and vibration, humidity and EMC.
Things to consider when selecting a DC/DC converter for a rail application
The major point to consider is the operating input voltage range of your supply, for historical reasons there is a variety of “standard” voltages present in rail environments, “nominal” ones being 24V, 48V, 72V, 96V and 110V; 110V is the most common on trains. You will see from the grid below many of our offerings have a wide input range of 14 to 160V. EN50155 requirements mean that your dc/dc converter needs to be able to cope with a wide fluctuation which for short periods this deviation can be anything between 0.6 to 1.4 times the nominal value.
The majority of the products available from Delta and P-Duke are available in industry standard footprints, ¼ and ½ bricks being popular.
We have many other products from 3W upwards, and also a range of surge suppression modules to enable designers to easily meet the requirements of RIA 12.
As usual our product specialists are happy to assist with product selection and guide you through the design cycle. We can offer technical and commercial support and arrange for samples, please contact us for more information.
