IN Brief:
- The DF150 provides 160W at 27V and is the first product in Advanced Energy’s Defiant Future family.
- The fanless supply combines MIL-STD-810H environmental qualification, MIL-STD-461G EMC certification, and IP67 protection.
- Advanced Energy is positioning the unit as a standard rugged product intended to reduce custom power development and qualification work.
Advanced Energy has launched the DF150, a 160W fanless AC-DC power supply for defence and other extreme-environment applications where shock, vibration, temperature, electromagnetic compatibility, and ingress protection exceed the requirements of a conventional enclosed industrial PSU.
The DF150 is the first product in the company’s Defiant Future family. It provides a nominal 27VDC output at approximately 5.93A and is specified for operation from -46°C to +60°C without derating. Advanced Energy is positioning the unit as a standard commercial product rather than a programme-specific custom design.
Environmental qualification includes MIL-STD-810H testing for shock, vibration, altitude, humidity, and temperature. The unit is also certified to MIL-STD-461G for electromagnetic compatibility, covering conducted and radiated emissions together with a range of susceptibility tests. Its IP67 enclosure provides protection against dust and temporary water immersion, with Advanced Energy specifying submersion to one metre for 30 minutes.
A rugged processor, radio, sensor, or actuator still depends on a supply able to tolerate the same mechanical and thermal conditions while maintaining output stability and EMC performance. In tightly packaged equipment, conversion loss also becomes part of the system thermal budget because every watt dissipated by the PSU has to leave the enclosure.
Advanced Energy specifies efficiency of up to 91% at full load. The DF150 operates without a minimum load and has a stated leakage current of 275µA at 230VAC. Cooling can be handled through conduction via the baseplate or by convection with a heatsink, avoiding the fan, moving parts, and service requirements associated with forced-air cooling.
The 160W rating places the supply in a useful range for embedded computers, communications equipment, sensor payloads, control electronics, and other subsystems that need more than board-level auxiliary power but do not justify a large custom power architecture. The 27V output also aligns with equipment designed around nominal 28V class DC buses.
System designers will still need to assess hold-up, transient behaviour, input protection, downstream conversion, connector requirements, and thermal coupling in the final installation. Qualification at PSU level reduces the amount of uncertainty entering the design, but it does not replace system-level EMC or environmental testing.
The MIL-STD-461G test coverage includes RE102, CE102, CS101, CS114, CS115, CS116, CS118, and RS103. Passing those tests gives integrators a controlled starting point in equipment where radios, switching converters, processors, and sensors operate in close proximity, but cable layout, shielding, grounding, and enclosure design remain part of the final compliance result.
Input and output behaviour will also determine how easily the DF150 fits existing equipment. Rugged systems often have long cable runs, noisy upstream supplies, and downstream loads with large startup currents or pulsed demand. A qualified enclosure does not remove those electrical constraints, so designers still have to match source impedance, protection, hold-up requirements, and local point-of-load conversion to the characteristics of the 27V output.
The standard-product approach is central to the launch. Custom power supplies can be tailored closely to an application, but bespoke development adds engineering time, qualification work, non-recurring cost, and programme risk. A prequalified rugged supply can shorten that path where its electrical and mechanical envelope already fits the equipment.
Advanced Energy is offering different input cable configurations and case colours while keeping the core DF150 as a fixed 160W platform. That limits customisation compared with a ground-up design, but it also preserves a repeatable product and common qualification basis that can be carried across multiple programmes.
The DF150 is listed as an active product with datasheet and compliance documentation available from Advanced Energy. The next measure of the Defiant Future family will be whether the company extends the same qualification model across additional power levels and output options. The current device addresses a defined gap between standard industrial supplies and heavily customised rugged power hardware, with certification, thermal design, and environmental protection built into the base product.
