The application of commercial pulsed electric fields (PEF) aims to provide a large number of repeatable pulses to inactivate microorganisms and extend the shelf life of food and beverages without heating or using chemicals. These applications have been optimized for scale, reliability, and longer operating life, but they are usually customized and not only expensive but also lack flexibility. Nevertheless, it creates market opportunities for modular and pilot scale design using existing components.
XP Power has launched a series of regulated high-voltage power converters, which designers can use to build modular PEF systems in laboratory, pilot, and commercial applications without relying on fully customized power solutions. The company's HRL30 30 W converter can be used as a regulated high-voltage power supply to charge capacitors or pulse forming networks (PFN), and then provide controlled pulses to electrodes, sensors, or processing units through switch stages.
The HRL30 series converter can support controlled and repeatable downstream pulses without the need for customized high-voltage power supply, providing designers with greater freedom to conduct experiments, quickly iterate, and create new innovative solutions for specific applications.
Small modular design
Designers can build modular high-voltage systems based on HRL30, using it as the stabilizing energy core for a series of subsystems. Subsequently, the PFN that has completed charging provides controlled pulses to the electrodes or processing units through the switch module, while monitoring and controlling electronic devices to track voltage, current, and temperature data in real-time.
The mechanical casing and bottom plate cooling simplify the safe integration with laboratory equipment, pilot scale PEF modules, or OEM subsystems. By combining these building blocks, teams can quickly develop prototypes, iterate, and adjust designs without the need to design customized high-voltage power supplies for each application.
The voltage regulator operates in constant voltage and constant current modes, with automatic frequency division function, and can be used to control the charging rate of capacitors. The output voltage can be set between 0% and 100% through a 0-5V analog signal, allowing the system to dynamically adjust the target charging voltage and thus adjust the pulse intensity.
The XP Power converter provides voltage and current monitoring outputs (Vmon and Imon) for automatic testing, recording, or closed-loop control. These signals enable an external microcontroller or programmable logic controller to detect when the capacitor is fully charged, trigger pulses, and initiate a charging cycle.
Stable and controllable energy delivery
The HRL30 architecture supports various systems and can provide high voltage output as a clear and repeatable function. This allows the design team to focus on application performance and system integration, rather than designing customized high-voltage power supplies. The compact mechanical casing and bottom cooling system make it easier and safer to integrate with large systems.
The key challenge of PEF application lies not only in generating high voltage, but also in providing high voltage safely and unpredictably. The HRL30 series provides stable regulated energy for PFN, capacitor banks, or other high-voltage energy storage components that output pulses downstream.
PFN is a combination of capacitors and inductors that can store energy and release it in short, repeatable pulses. PFN defines pulse shape, duration, and amplitude, while HRL30 manages safe and reliable energy transfer, allowing designers to focus on adjusting performance rather than building customized high-voltage power supplies.
Designers can map the electrical requirements of their application to HRL30 variants, which have the same compact base plate cooling profile, with specific dimensions of 3 in. x 2 in. x 0.73 in (Figure 1).