There’s a familiar expression along the lines of, “You can’t teach an old Max new tricks,” but that’s not true because I’m learning new tricks all the time. Take power supplies, for example…
I’m ashamed to say that when I was young and foolish, I didn’t give power supplies the recognition they deserved. My focus was on the digital logic side of things—the power supply was just something that lurked around in the background. In fact, I would rarely give power supplies much thought at all… until one of them stopped working. Now that I’m older and… well, let’s just stop at “now that I’m older,” I’ve gained a much greater appreciation of the role of power supplies in general, and the sophistication of today’s offerings in particular.
My meandering musings were sparked by a recent conversation with Simon Wheeler, Vice President of Product Management at XP Power. Just to set the scene, XP was founded as XP PLC in 1988 as a specialist distributor of power conversion products. Ten years later, in 1998, it transitioned into private label manufacturing under the XP brand.
Today, XP Power has a global footprint, with over 2,300 employees spread across 40 locations in 17 countries. The company boasts design, engineering, and sales in North America, Europe, and Asia, with manufacturing in China and Vietnam. XP Power’s key markets are in healthcare, industrial automation, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, analytical instrumentation, and Industry 4.0—all areas where power reliability is non-negotiable.
XP Power’s evolution—spanning strategic acquisitions and in-house engineering growth—reflects a broader trend: the rising complexity and critical importance of power electronics in mission-critical applications. Their history serves as a case study in how a power supply supplier can transition from commoditized distribution to high-value innovation and engineering differentiation, but we digress…
Simon began by providing a brief overview of XP Power’s timeline for configurable power supplies. This all kicked off in 2005 when the guys and gals at XP Power introduced their fleXPower series—a modular chassis-based AC-DC system featuring multiple configurable output modules that could be arranged in series or parallel.
Around 2015, the lads and lasses at XP Power observed a trend in many market sectors to transition to 1U high rack-mount power supplies. To address this trend, they introduced the nanofleX series—a digitally controlled, configurable ACDC power supply platform housed in a compact 1U mechanical chassis. This was designed to support up to four plug-in output modules, with nineteen nominal voltages ranging from 3.3 to 60 VDC, each module being digitally controlled for flexible system-level customization.
And now we find ourselves ten years later in 2025. As Simon says, a lot has changed in the last ten years. For example, very few people currently use 10-year-old smartphones or laptops (just the thought of doing so makes my eyes water). Similarly, it’s time to “up the game” in power supply space (where no one can hear you scream).
Simon says that the chaps and chapesses (I’m loosely translating his vernacular) at XP Power collaborated with around 30 customers to determine their current requirements (no pun intended), which boiled down to smaller size, higher power, and greater configurability and flexibility, so no surprise and/or pressure there, then.
This led to the recent introduction of XP Power’s FLXPro series, which is an awesome addition to the power supply market. With dimensions of 40mm/1.6” (1U) high, 88.9mm/3.5” wide, and 154mm/6.1” deep, these are the most compact, modular, and configurable power supplies currently available on the market.
The image below shows an exploded view of a FLXPro with a common frontend and a modular backend. Customers can select the required mix of output modules, which are available with outputs from 9 to 66 VDC. All the modules support a wide adjustment range (+10% to –40%), which can be configured under live conditions to form part of a customer’s active control system.
Exploded view of FLXPro power supply (Source: XP Power)
Output modules can be combined into multiple parallel and series configurations, and multiple FLXPro units can also be combined in parallel for higher power applications. This inherent flexibility optimises application performance and control, addressing customer requirements for fixed and variable loads.
In power supply terminology, “low line” and “high line” refer to different points within the allowable AC input voltage range. Low line refers to the lowest input voltage that a power supply is designed to handle while still meeting all performance specs. For typical universal AC inputs, low line means 90 VAC (or sometimes 85 VAC). By comparison, high line refers to the highest input voltage in the supported range—often 264 VAC for universal supplies.
The FLXPro series supports a universal AC input range of 85 VAC to 264 VAC, delivering power levels of 1.3 kW at high-line conditions and 1 kW at low-line, with a market-leading power density of up to 23.2 W/in³.
A key differentiator for the FLXPro series is its uniquely designed, SiC/GaN-based, fully digital architecture, covering both the input stage and the output modules. This digital infrastructure forms the foundation for XP Power’s new iPSU Intelligent Power technology, which translates rich internal data into actionable information, enabling users to make informed, high-quality decisions that enhance application safety and reduce operating costs. iPSU technology is enhanced by XP Power’s latest intuitive user interface: XPInsight.
XPInsight (Source: XP Power)
Developed using human-centred design (HCD) principles, XPInsight simplifies system configuration, monitoring, and control, and features advanced capabilities such as graphing, datalogging, and simultaneous multi-unit display. This HCD-optimized user interface (UI) facilitates fast, quality decisions regarding the power supply application state and provides intuitive status, health, and configuration information. It also incorporates multi-level password protection and cybersecurity features for improved security. By streamlining power supply setup and customisation, XPInsight helps accelerate development timelines and reduce engineering costs.
Let’s be brutally honest, power supplies don’t always get the spotlight they deserve. They sit quietly in the background, happily humming away, while processors, sensors, and displays steal all the glory. But make no mistake: without a reliable, efficient, and well-designed power supply, nothing works. Power supplies are at the heart of any electronic system—and like living creatures, if the heart falters, the rest doesn’t matter (my heart is certainly one of my three favorite organs).
That’s why the launch of XP Power’s new FLXPro series is worth paying attention to. This isn’t just another “dumb power brick” with some terminals stuck on the end—it’s a flexible, modular, high-performance power platform that’s been engineered to meet the needs of modern, mission-critical systems.
Whether you’re designing industrial automation, medical equipment, or defense systems, the FLXPro’s combination of scalability, configurability, and robust performance could make your life a whole lot easier—and your design a whole lot more capable.
But enough of my waffling—it’s not all about me (it should be, but it’s not). What about you? Do you have any thoughts you’d care to share with the rest of us?
