CAMTEC engineers and manufactures solid switch mode power supplies and up to high voltage power solutions for automation sector, infrastructure- and traffic engineering, machine building and electronics industry.
Interview with Oliver Walter, CEO at Camtec Power Supplies GmbH.
What innovative products, services, or solutions has Camtec launched recently —or plans to launch by early next year?
Oliver Walter: The product cycles in our market segment – electronics for infrastructure – are very long compared to p.ex. electronic consumer products. We are designing and manufacturing devices like inrush-current-limiting-systems for lighting in buildings or signalling which often have a lifetime of up to 30 years. Our main market is programmable industrial power supplies. Our devices are often used in ultra-rough, heavy-duty environments like tunnels, power plants, huge dirty industrial complexes, railway systems etc. But of course, the longer a component will be in use, the more rewarding it is, to strive for maximum energy efficiency … and to make them as easy to service as possible on the other hand.
What does “designing and producing electronics for infrastructure” mean for your designing and innovation circles?
O.W: This means, that the number of launches of new products isn’t very high and that we run 100 percent reliability tests on all those components – and when launching new series, there are usually several years needed for the development and all the certifications for the different market segments they are made for. Nevertheless in 2022 we started a totally new inrush current limiter series – our ESB001 especially for lighting – and 2024 the CPS 2000 and 3000, programmable power supplies series. Both series are fundamentally rethinking and changing the electric architecture of the solution they are used in.
Having a look at our lighting inrush-current-limiter-series, architects and tunnel planners etc. understand: using those CAMTEC components saves a lot of material like cables and number of modules and boosts energy efficiency. So, our approach clearly is about changing the system and way of planning and reducing material and costs for huge lighting systems including always-on emergency lighting systems. We are talking about real money here, in those large infrastructures. CAMTEC Power Supplies’s design approach isn’t about just shrinking the components or just making them some few percent more efficient.
Any news, new products, to come then, too?
O.W: We will launch our new CPS-EC2000 DIN-Rail industrial power supply with 2000W & battery charger on DIN-Rail. Based on the next generation lab power supply CPS-i1500 it this is our new high-power step on DIN rail Camtec. The units will launch by end of the year 2025. The CPS-EC2000 series has an analogue control circuit enabling very quick settlement times that allows a quick response on a load change. Also, as usual with Camtec devices, the ripple and noise is low, thus this qualifies the units for a use on a test bench also. Inside we use SIC-MOSFET Technology with a very small RDS-on to enable maximum efficiency for a reasonable price. The power supplies will launch with output voltages from 48VDC to 220VDC and later high output voltages with 400VDC, 600VDC and 800VDC will follow. The mechanical dimensions will be the same as for our well-known CPS-EC1500 series.
What market needs or customer challenges are these innovations aiming to address?
O.W: The new digital CPS-i/ex/ep series are the next generation power supplies. They provide high power density, less energy-consuming and they provide smart industry 4.0 connectivity. With their modern web-interface they offer simple control. These power supplies are designed for simple self-service by the owner in the field. This offers best sustainability and cost effectiveness combined with system availability on a high technical level. The modular based system advances to design power supplies from 2kW to 105kW. Redundancy can be achieved with just an additional small module. It is energy efficient and easy on the budget.
Have you introduced any innovation that contributes directly to sustainability, efficiency, or reduced environmental impact?
O.W: CAMTEC Power Supplies has launched many innovations to sustainably reduce the environmental impact of our production in the past years. We use Solar-PV energy, and we made high investments in new energy-saving production machines and quality test equipment. We switched our production from standard raw materials to low waste materials and replaced PFAS affecting materials and processes with new innovative ones. In the past years we also invested a lot into de-risk our supply chain and qualified more local suppliers to enable short delivery ways.
As explained before, we increasingly develop products that could be self-serviced by the owner in the field. Our design to service concept is sustainably saving carbon from senseless transport ways and it helps reduce production downtime on the owner side.
Are there specific industries, regions, or customer segments you are targeting with these innovations?
O.W: Our programmable power supplies are used on production test bench, water treatment, surface plating/coating, pipe anti corrosion systems, fuel cells. Our industrial power supplies are used on DC-UPS systems, data center, energy plant, railroad control, chemical plant and heavy industry plant, oil rigs, gas and oil pipelines, hydrogen plant, sluice and waterway; on highly available systems.
How do the products/solutions help improve client efficiency or productivity?
O.W: As explained before, we increasingly develop products, which can be self-serviced by the owner without help of service technicians – outside, in the field. Our “design-to-service”-concept is unique in this strictness as far as we can tell. And it is sustainably saving carbon from senseless transport ways and helps reduce production downtime on the owner side.