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RoHS and Power – Compliance Demands Investment

With the deadline for RoHS compliance fast approaching, Phil Lamb, Astec Power’s managing director, looks at how investment on the part of the power product manufacturer is critical to delivering RoHS-compliant products.

The RoHS Directive comes into force in less than five months, and ensuring compliance is probably the biggest challenge facing electronic equipment manufacturers this year. In their efforts to achieve compliance, engineers and purchasers have little choice but to rely heavily on information they receive from the manufacturers of the products and components that are designed into their target applications. Furthermore, in an environment where the state of compliance of an individual component is not always immediately clear, it is absolutely vital that engineers and purchasers can be fully confident of the compliance status of more complex products such as DC/DC converters or AC/DC power supplies.

There are a great many factors that power supply manufacturers have to address in order to ensure that their products are RoHS-compliant. The materials used in PCBs and solders must be changed to eliminate potential reliability problems caused by higher temperature reflow processes; different finishes may be required; supplier declarations must be sought; passive, interconnect, semiconductor and other components must be carefully screened to ensure that maximum allowable impurity levels of restricted substances are kept within Directive limits; and comprehensive testing and qualification of end products must take place.

Bringing to market RoHS-compliant power products clearly requires a significant amount of investment on behalf of the power supply manufacturer. The question for designers and purchasers at OEMs and CEMs, therefore, must be: “Do I have the peace of mind that my PSU and converter manufacturer is making that investment and that the products they are supplying are RoHS-compliant?”

When it comes to Astec, the answer to that question is a resounding “Yes”. We have been preparing for RoHS compliance since 2004, when we established a dedicated RoHS implementation team. This team determined both the academic and industry standards for limits on RoHS substances, and remains responsible for performing product surveys and obtaining reports on the use and content of restricted substances in almost 60,000 parts and materials that Astec Power procures worldwide. The team has also managed an extensive supplier declaration process that includes requesting tin whisker testing to be performed by suppliers where necessary.


Figure 1 – Astec RoHS Compliance Process

Figure 1 shows the Astec RoHS compliance process. As the process shows, Astec’s commitment to delivering RoHS-compliant product also extends to investing in design, manufacture and testing. For all products in the Astec range, engineering teams first build product samples based on approved components and materials, and then submit these samples to extensive qualification testing, including rigorous reliability testing. Only when all testing is complete can volume production of the compliant product begin.

By investing significantly in the resources, equipment, and processes needed to ensure full RoHS compliance, Astec has been able to create roadmaps for its AC/DC and DC/DC products as shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively. As the Figures show, the vast majority of AC/DC product is already RoHS-compliant, while the remainder and the majority of DC/DC product is set to become compliant very shortly. At the cut in dates shown, the model will convert to 100% RoHS compliance. It should be noted that, while the model number will not change (in order to avoid customer/safety documentation changes) all RoHS-compliant products will ship with an RoHS label.


Figure 2 – RoHS Compliance for AC/DC Products


Figure 3 – RoHS Compliance for DC/DC Products

Naturally Astec has been working very closely with Arrow throughout its RoHS implementation process, and Arrow’s representatives are fully aware of the RoHS status of Astec products on the Arrow linecard. Further information on Astec products available through Arrow can be found by visiting the Astec page on Arrow’s website (please click on the link on the right).