Buoyant end-user markets are the key drivers for growth in the world AC-DC switching power supplies (SPS) market, according to Frost & Sullivan.
The consumption of electronic goods that require high-quality DC power is high and this is likely to create significant demand for AC-DC SPSs.
New analysis has found that the worldwide AC-DC SPS market earned revenues of $7,67 billion in 2006 and estimates this to reach $10,8 billion in 2013.
"A vibrant consumer electronics market, particularly in regions such as Asia Pacific, along with the integration of electronic components in a variety of applications, has created a need for superior quality DC power and spurred the growth of AC-DC SPS units," notes Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst Karthi Hanumantharau. "Increasing power quality needs in sectors such as industrial and automation also generate demand for AC-DC units due to their efficiency, reliability and multiple output features."
Demand from medical applications manufacturers is also on the rise due to their requirement of DC power. The quality of power supplies used in such applications is critical since they could be used to provide power to devices connected to patients. Medical applications require compact and lightweight power supplies that are highly efficient and reliable to handle power fluctuations - AC-DC SPSs answer those needs.
While the telecommunications industry is the largest consumer of AC-DC SPS products, increase in the intermediate bus architecture (IBA) power system design in both this sector and the industrial sector is expected to affect the consumption of centralised AC-DC multi-output units. These systems are likely to be replaced with a network of DC-DC converters.
"However, demand is restored to some extent in the form of AC-DC SPS products used as front ends," says Hanumantharau. "In addition, the advent of new technologies such as 3G, general packet radio service (GPRS), Power over Ethernet (PoE) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is expected to induce fresh demand for power supplies in telecom infrastructure."
Compared to the old silicon controlled rectifiers (SCR)-based design, SPSs provide better output performance with the ability to adjust the DC output as and when required. This makes them the preferred choice for critical applications despite being more expensive than SCR products.
On the other hand, SCR products are preferred for high-power, non-critical applications since it becomes too expensive to use SPS products in such applications. However, standardisation of SPS products in Europe has allowed them to be used in both critical and non-critical applications, which is likely to lead to higher demand in this region, particularly in Eastern Europe.
For more information contact Patrick Cairns, Frost & Sullivan, +27 (0)21 680 3274, patrick.cairns@frost.com
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