As manufacturers of all types of mechanical equipment work toward using energy efficiently, regenerative power technology has taken a major role in reducing operating costs. Power regeneration is the process of recovering kinetic energy created by a motor when stopping or braking, and then converting that energy to electricity and feeding it back into the power grid. Hybrid and electric vehicles are the first examples that typically come to mind, but other applications that involve frequent stopping and starting—such as hoists, cranes, elevators, spindle drives, and decanter centrifuges—can also put significant energy to recycled use.
This is equally true in electronic test. With energy efficiency at a premium for those performing high-power tests, power supply customers must factor in a product’s lifetime operational costs, which often exceed initial capital investment. Today, vendors of regenerative power supplies and sources market not only their solutions’ low cost of ownership, but many newer solutions also feature lower floor or rack space usage, low heat dissipation, and mimimal required maintenance.