While many of the developed world’s power grids are robust and mature systems, they are not perfect. The mains voltage (available from the
outlets in homes, offices, hospitals and other facilities), supplying power to the electrical devices we use every day, is vulnerable to a number of complications. The AC/DC converters we employ to turn that mains voltage
into something our devices can actually use should be designed with these complications in mind and should offer some level of protection against them.
How well a given power converter responds to one such complication: momentary dropouts, can be gleaned from its specified
hold-up time. This month’s technical bulletin will provide a comprehensive overview of power supply hold-up time: why it matters, how it is determined, and how it is measured.
TT Electronics plc (LON:TTG) is a provider of engineered electronics applications for performance-critical applications. The Company works with customers in the industrial, medical, aerospace and defence, and transportation sectors.