Custom Power Supply For Window Shades :: Thinking Things Through

We designed and built the power supply highlighted here to handle the rigorous performance demands of motor driven window shades.

Rated for 5W continuous power to drive automatic shade motors, we engineered it to support a 50W surge of power for a short duration to overcome the inertia of a rolled out shade. This power supply offers efficiency, unparalleled performance, and global safety recognition.

The client came to us with this project because of our knowledge of their product and application. Customized to their specific electrical, mechanical and aesthetic requirements, we engineered the power supply for both domestic and international use.

We developed this product for direct mounting on a 4 x 4″ junction box. For domestic use, it needed to meet a specific Underwriters Laboratories (UL) safety standard, however, the scope of the standard did not cover the mounting configuration. We engaged in very intense discussion and negotiation with UL to update the standard to allow for mounting and connecting the power supply directly onto the electrical junction box as planned.

This power supply is designed to provide a 10 year service life raising and lowering shades in high end hotel, restaurant and office applications. It features an injection molded Noryl case with a zinc plated steel cover and accepts universal input of 90-264 V 50/60 Hz. In addition to manufacturing the housing, we designed and built the internal PCB in house using SMD technology. Reliable performance is assured through the use of quality assurance tools such as a comprehensive burn in, full functional testing and hipot testing on 100% of the products.

One of the goals for the client was a single product that could be used worldwide, so we engineered and built this power supply to ensure it would conform to all relevant efficiency and safety standards. It currently holds dozens of international approvals and meets the EISA 2007 Level V efficiency requirements. We developed a modular packaging solution to accommodate the various power cord requirements for each country, and had the installation instructions and accompanying materials translated into several different languages.

We continue to manufacture this product at the rate of approximately 10,000 units on an annual basis. To learn more about this project or any of our electrical design and manufacturing capabilities, contact us today.