In companies for which the investment in and reliable operation of expensive electrical and electronic equipment is paramount to their bottom line, the use of power line conditioners is essential. Power conditioners, which provide voltage regulation together with one or more additional functions such as noise suppression or transient impulse protection, protect equipment from damaging power spikes and from voltage sags that can cause equipment to malfunction and possibly lose data.

The power conditioners that you purchase and the power conditioner providers that you shop at depend very much on the category of equipment you're trying to protect. Some of the major categories of equipment for which dissimilar power conditioners are available include medical, industrial, audio, video and mobile electronic. For application-specific information on power conditioners, see the following:

1. Select power conditioners to protect medical electronic equipment.

2. Choose from industrial power conditioners to keep your company's equipment running smoothly and safely.

3. Audio/Video power conditioners are the ticket for maintaining safe and noise-free operation of your audio and video equipment.

4. Protect your mobile microprocessor-based transceivers and data devices with a DC power conditioner.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Buy medical power conditioners for microprocessor-based medical equipment

In hospitals and other medical settings, very sensitive and high-accuracy equipment is instrumental in the saving of lives. Thus, protection of this equipment is very important. That's why there are power conditioners that are especially made for the protection and signal conditioning of medical equipment. Visit the following medical power conditioner distributors.

I recommend: Tripp-Lite is a power conditioner distributor focused on hospital and medical applications. Powervar also has a wide array of medical power conditioning equipment to meet numerous common power conditioning needs in hospitals. Their equipment is designed to work with microprocessor-based medical equipment.

Protect your company's bottom line with an industrial power conditioner

To protect all the sensitive and expensive equipment in your company from power fluctuations and to prevent the resulting down times and data loss, you should visit the following companies to see about installing one of the industrial power conditioners you can find on each of their websites.

I recommend: Utility Systems Technologies makes multi-phase and single-phase power conditioners, which protect expensive equipment in businesses of all sizes. They help to avoid voltage sags that cause down time. They also help to minimize energy costs and battery replacements caused by power sags. Also check out power conditioner manufacturer MDS Power for industrial applications.

Purchase audio/video power conditioners to improve signal quality and to protect the equipment

Power conditioners for AV equipment are different than those made for other types of equipment and are designed with volt-amp ranges and filtering characteristics optimized for use with AV equipment. If you need to provide signal conditioning or power protection to audio and/or video equipment, see the power conditioner suppliers listed below.

I recommend: Audio/Video power conditioner manufacturers Furman and APC provide surge protection, noise filtering, and voltage regulation for home theatre systems and automation systems.

Take care of microprocessor-based devices while in a vehicle with a DC power conditioner

If you need to protect microprocessor-based voice and data transmitters that will be powered by a vehicle battery, then you need a DC power conditioner, which will prevent the usual voltage sag that occurs when the vehicle starts up. The voltage sag could otherwise dump its programmed memory.

I recommend: Newmar makes a line of DC power conditioners to protect sensitive electronics while starting an engine. Teal also makes a complete line of AC and DC power conditioners.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many businesses need power conditioners more than they do battery backup power. Where backup power is unnecessary, a power conditioner can provide better protection with greater electrical efficiency than a UPS at lower cost.