A Multi-Dimensional Comparison Framework for the R&D Capabilities of High-Voltage Power Supply Manufacturers

In the high-voltage power supply industry, R&D capability is the concentrated embodiment of an enterprise's core competitiveness, which directly determines the product's performance indicators (such as efficiency, stability, power density), iteration speed, and customization capability. From the perspective of industry development rules, the difference in R&D capability has become a key symbol to distinguish leading enterprises from small and medium-sized manufacturers. Therefore, establishing an objective and comprehensive R&D capability comparison framework and conducting analysis from the dimensions of team, investment, achievements, and transformation is of great value for user selection and judgment of the industry competition pattern.
The configuration of the R&D team is the basic guarantee of R&D capability, and its scale, professional background, and experience directly affect the R&D efficiency and technical depth. From the perspective of team scale, the proportion of R&D personnel in leading enterprises usually reaches 15%-25% (for example, enterprises with annual revenue of more than 1 billion yuan have an R&D team of ≥50 people), and the division of labor in subdivided fields is clear (such as high-voltage topology design group, control algorithm group, reliability test group); the proportion of R&D personnel in small and medium-sized manufacturers is mostly 5%-10%, with a team scale of ≤20 people, and there are often cases where one person takes multiple positions, making it difficult to form professional R&D capabilities. From the perspective of professional background, core R&D personnel need to have interdisciplinary knowledge such as power electronics, high-voltage insulation, and automatic control. The core engineers of leading enterprises mostly have more than 10 years of R&D experience in high-voltage power supplies, and some are from power electronics laboratories of universities (such as Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University) or international well-known enterprises, with the ability to solve complex technical problems; the R&D personnel of small and medium-sized manufacturers mostly have experience in medium and low-voltage power supplies, and have a shallow understanding of key technologies such as insulation design and EMC control in high-voltage scenarios. From the perspective of industry-university-research cooperation, leading enterprises often establish joint laboratories with universities and scientific research institutions (such as the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University) to jointly carry out the R&D of cutting-edge technologies (such as solid-state high-voltage power supplies, wide-bandgap semiconductor applications), with ≥3 cooperative projects per year; limited by resources, the industry-university-research cooperation of small and medium-sized manufacturers mostly stays at the technical consulting level, making it difficult to form in-depth R&D cooperation.
R&D investment intensity is the material support of R&D capability, and its proportion and investment direction directly affect the technical reserve and product iteration speed. From the perspective of revenue proportion, the R&D investment of leading enterprises usually accounts for 5%-8% of annual revenue (for example, enterprises with annual revenue of 500 million yuan have R&D investment of ≥25 million yuan), which can support the parallel R&D of multiple projects; the R&D investment proportion of small and medium-sized manufacturers is mostly 2%-3%, which can only meet the iterative maintenance of existing products, and it is difficult to carry out the R&D of cutting-edge technologies. From the perspective of investment direction, the R&D investment of leading enterprises is divided into three parts: equipment investment (accounting for 20%-30% of R&D investment), including high-voltage test benches (test voltage ≥200kV), EMC test systems (complying with CISPR standards), and simulation software (such as ANSYS Maxwell, PSpice), with the investment of a single device up to millions of yuan; personnel investment (accounting for 40%-50% of R&D investment), the annual salary of core engineers can be 2-3 times that of small and medium-sized manufacturers, and R&D incentives (such as project bonuses, patent dividends) are provided; project investment (accounting for 20%-30% of R&D investment), including new product R&D projects (such as 10kV/100A high-voltage and high-current power supplies) and technical research projects (such as reducing the ripple coefficient to <0.05%), with the investment of a single project ≥5 million yuan. The R&D investment of small and medium-sized manufacturers is mainly personnel investment (accounting for ≥60%), and the equipment investment can only meet basic tests (such as test voltage ≤50kV). The simulation software mostly uses free versions, resulting in low accuracy and efficiency of technical R&D.
Core technology reserve is the direct embodiment of R&D capability, and its coverage and advancement determine the market competitiveness of products. From the perspective of topology, leading enterprises have mastered a variety of high-voltage adaptive topologies such as LLC resonant topology, phase-shifted full-bridge topology, and series resonant topology, and can select the optimal topology according to different application scenarios (such as high power density, high stability), and can realize topology innovation (such as hybrid resonant topology, with efficiency increased to more than 96%); small and medium-sized manufacturers mostly use traditional flyback topology and forward topology, which are only suitable for low-power (<10kW) and low-voltage (<5kV) scenarios, and the efficiency is only 85%-90%. From the perspective of control algorithms, leading enterprises have realized digital control (such as control schemes based on DSP and FPGA), supporting complex algorithms (such as PID + fuzzy control, model predictive control), which can control the output voltage stability within ±0.01% and the dynamic response time <100μs; small and medium-sized manufacturers mostly use analog control schemes, with low control accuracy (stability ±0.5%) and dynamic response time >500μs, which are difficult to meet the needs of high-precision applications. From the perspective of wide-bandgap semiconductor application, leading enterprises have applied gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) devices to high-voltage power supplies, realizing product miniaturization (volume reduced by 30%-50%) and high efficiency (efficiency increased by 3%-5%), and have formed mass production capacity; limited by technology and cost, small and medium-sized manufacturers still mainly use silicon-based devices, and the application of wide-bandgap semiconductors is in the sample verification stage.
Patent achievements and technology transformation are the value embodiment of R&D capability, and their quantity, quality, and transformation efficiency directly reflect the practicality of R&D. From the perspective of patent quantity, leading enterprises apply for 15-30 invention patents and 30-50 utility model patents every year, covering core fields such as topology design, control algorithms, and structural innovation; small and medium-sized manufacturers apply for 2-5 invention patents and 5-10 utility model patents every year, mostly concentrated in non-core fields such as structural improvement. From the perspective of patent quality, the invention patents of leading enterprises mostly involve core technologies (such as "a high-voltage low-ripple resonant topology"), and apply for overseas patents in multiple countries (such as the United States, the European Union, Japan) to form technical barriers; the invention patents of small and medium-sized manufacturers are mostly improved technologies with low technical innovation, and few apply for overseas patents. From the perspective of technology transformation efficiency, the patent transformation cycle of leading enterprises is 1-2 years, and the patent transformation rate (the proportion of patents transformed into products) is ≥60%. For example, an enterprise's "high-voltage isolated sampling patent" was successfully applied to medical-grade power supplies, solving the problem of leakage current control; the patent transformation cycle of small and medium-sized manufacturers is as long as 3-5 years, and the patent transformation rate is ≤30%. A large number of patents are in an idle state, making it difficult to generate actual value.
Comprehensively, the comparison of R&D capabilities of high-voltage power supply manufacturers needs to form a closed-loop evaluation from the four dimensions of "team-investment-technology-achievement". Leading enterprises have significant advantages in all dimensions, and can provide high-performance, high-stability products and rapid customization services; small and medium-sized manufacturers need to gradually improve their R&D capabilities by focusing on segmented fields (such as low-power industrial-grade power supplies) and strengthening industry-university-research cooperation. When selecting cooperative manufacturers, users need to combine their own application needs (such as power, accuracy, customization) and give priority to enterprises with strong R&D capabilities to ensure product performance and long-term technical support.