Powerbox wins Power System Product of the Year award in recognition of its technical prowess in power supply design

Press Release
December 12, 2017

Powerbox, one of Europe’s largest power supply companies and a leading force for four decades in optimizing power solutions for demanding applications, has won the Power System Product of the Year category in the prestigious Elektra Awards for 2017, run by leading UK magazine Electronics Weekly. At a special awards evening in London on December 6, Powerbox’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Patrick Le Fèvre accepted the award from Hal Cruttenden, famous comedian, actor and master of ceremonies on behalf of Electronics Weekly. The Elektra Awards’ Power System Product of the year award is presented to the power product that demonstrates technical capabilities and usefulness that differentiate it from competitive products. Judges looked for evidence of product performance presented in numbers and/or design applications. Judging criteria also looked for new topologies and architectures, use of materials, advanced semiconductor technologies and packaging.

Powerbox’s winning entry, the GB350, is a 350W buck converter that is used to power equipment in medical and industrial applications such as MRI scanners and particle accelerators. Faced with the challenge of designing a unit that operates actually within an MRI scanner, engineers at Powerbox did away with magnetic cores altogether and created a unit with air-cored inductors. Four-phase switching at 600kHz, a total of 2.4MHz, allows the air cores to work, and a digital processor manages everything from switching parameters to output voltage characterization. The GB350 is a very clever and elegant solution to a long standing but never previously solved problem – a true first.
Judges praised Powerbox for its “creative thinking” in solving this thorny problem.

Le Fèvre says: “We are very pleased to accept this award. It is industry recognition of Powerbox’s technical know-how and its ability to solve problems and create power supply solutions that previously have been regarded as almost unachievable.”

Martin Sjöstrand, CEO at Powerbox says: “Powerbox is delighted to win this award, a great accolade that recognises our engineers’ commitment to developing power solutions for difficult locations and applications. In this particular instance it reflects the company’s commitment to developing advanced power solutions for medical applications, contributing to the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal number 3 ‘Good Health and Well-Being’. That human aspect makes the award even more enjoyable and rewarding.”  

Patrick Le Fèvre accepted the award from Hal Cruttenden, Comedian and Master of the Ceremony on behalf of Electronics Weekly. (Photo credit: Leo Johnson Photography)

About Elektra Awards
The Elektra European Electronics Industry Awards are the high point of the year for the European electronics industry. Established as the best promotional platform to celebrate the achievements of individuals and companies across Europe, they present best-practice in key areas including, innovation, sales growth and employee motivation. An independent panel of judges have assessed the quality of all entries and the winners announced at the Awards Ceremony taking place on Wednesday 6 December 2017 at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane. http://www.elektraawards.co.uk/