What Is a Custom Power Supply?
A custom power supply is a power supply assembled to order with variable capacity, output, and other specifications to suit the purpose of use.
Custom power supplies include welding power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies, ESS (energy storage systems), and various other types of power supplies, depending on the purpose of use.
In recent years, there has been a trend toward replacing storage batteries in power supplies that used to consist of lead-acid batteries with nickel-metal hydride or lithium-ion batteries and then trying to reduce running costs.
In response to CASE, it is expected the reuse of car batteries and other batteries that have been installed in electric vehicles will be activated in the future.
Uses of Custom Power Supplies
Custom power supplies are manufactured with variable capacity, output, and other specifications according to the intended use.
Typical applications include the following:
- Uninterruptible Power Supplies: Used to back up those power supplies when grid-connected power is interrupted.
- ESS (Energy Storage System): Storage batteries (generally lithium-ion batteries) that have an advantage in energy density, known as capacitive type, are connected in series and parallel and used as one large storage battery.
- Welding Power Source: Used to store power in a power source and release that power momentarily to extract power for welding, such as TIG and MIG.
Principles of Custom Power Supplies
This section describes the principle of custom power supplies. A custom power supply generally consists of a battery management system (BMS), storage batteries (lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride, or lithium-ion batteries), a charger, and a DC-AC inverter.
The system is customized by changing the type of storage batteries and the control method through the battery management system to vary the capacity, output, and other specifications according to the application.
The storage battery is the most important part of the customization process, and lithium-ion batteries are generally used these days.
There are two main types of lithium-ion batteries: output type and capacity type.
Output-type batteries can be used to build custom power supplies for applications that require instantaneous high currents, such as welding power supplies.
With capacitive storage batteries, custom power supplies can be built for applications that require high energy density, such as ESS.