IPC, the Association Connecting Electronics Industries®, has received more than 70 pages of comments from over 15 individuals and companies to the draft of IPC-9592, “Performance Parameters for Power Conversion Devices.” The comments to the draft document will be addressed during a meeting on June 26–27, 2007 at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois.
The draft document, developed by a subcommittee of the IPC OEM Critical Components Council, has drawn widespread criticism, particularly from the European Power Supply Manufacturers Association. It is intended to set the requirements for design, qualification testing, conformance testing, manufacturing quality processes and regulatory requirements for power conversion devices.
“We welcome all comments and suggestions. If you don’t like the draft, I challenge you to get involved in the process and make constructive comments,” stated Tony Hilvers, Vice President of Industry Programs with IPC. “Only the first draft has been released. We may go though multiple drafts before reaching a consensus on the document,” he concluded.
The IPC Power Conversion Subcommittee whose members include Dell, IBM, Lenovo, Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems, Alcatel Lucent and Apple, developed the IPC-9592 draft document that is the target of current comments and concerns. Once a consensus has been achieved, the proposed standard will be sent to all IPC members for a vote. Several power supply makers including companies such as Astrodyne and Tyco are members of IPC, according to Hilvers.
Tom Newton, director of technical programs for IPC explained that he was not surprised by the number or extent of the comments. “This is an extensive document that fills a void in the power conversion industry, so the magnitude of comments was not unexpected,” Newton said in a written statement. “In this phase of the development of the standard, we asked the entire supply base to review and comment on IPC-9592. We can only hope that if a technologist or company has an issue with how the document is written, they will engage in the process and make a contribution by carefully reviewing the document and participating in the June meeting.”
According to the information and registration form on the IPC web site, the intent of the meeting will be to review comments to the Final Draft of IPC-9592, Performance Parameters for Power Conversion Devices. This nearly 100-page document attempts to standardize the performance parameters for power conversion devices including but not limited to the computer and telecommunications industries. The specification sets the requirements for design, qualification testing, conformance testing, manufacturing quality processes, and regulatory requirements, but does not include the functional requirements of the specific equipment.
The meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday and will conclude on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. It will begin with a description of the standards development process and an outline of the subjects covered by the document. The balance of the two days will be devoted to resolution of comments to the Final Draft. Members of the subcommittee who drafted the document – including representatives from Dell, Lenovo, IBM, HP, Cisco Systems, Alcatel Lucent and Apple – are expected to attend the meeting.
Companies interested in reviewing the draft document and participating in the meeting can access the document and meeting registration form by visiting http://www.ipc.org/PCSMeeting.
