Comtest

A South African dental implant manufacturer and distributor is leading the field locally when it comes to anodizing titanium. Since the Pretoria-based
company was established in 1987, Southern Implants has been a pioneer in the field of dental implant science. The company is constantly expanding its
product range to incorporate the newest technologies and trends and the use of a programmable power supply to ensure consistent colour on its titanium
components is just one of these innovations.

Colouring titanium using a programmable power supply is not a new concept. In fact, anodizing is one of the few predictable methods of colouring
titanium. Southern Implants' technical manager, Christo van der Walt, explains: "A constant current at a preset voltage is important to give the
precise colour needed on titanium components. The Xantrex programmable power supply has the adjustability and accuracy that we require to render the
different colours that we use to distinguish different sizes and applications of components."

Prior to acquiring the Xantrex XHR Series DC power supply, Southern Implants utilised a simple power pack that didn't offer the required accuracy. The
company is now in the process of acquiring a second power supply as volumes have increased rapidly and there is need for additional capacity. Van der
Walt adds, "We process some 1 000 components a day and in order to increase our throughput, we decided to acquire another Xantrex programmable power
supply."

Southern Implants is one of the only dental implant companies in South Africa that uses this method of anodizing its titanium dental implants.
South African dentists have had to rely on imported products in the past, but now they and dentists and the United States, Europe and Australasia are
benefiting from Southern Implants' commitment to offering a wide range of products of an international standard.

In addition to dental implants, the company prides itself on being able to engineer specific solutions to specific problems. For instance, it recently
manufactured dental implants for a tiger that had broken its canines. The company also developed a new jaw hinge for a man who hadn't been able to
open his mouth for years as a result of a motor vehicle accident. In addition to such unusual requests, the company routinely manufactures and/or
supplies items such as heart valves, cochlear implants and spinal inserts.

Van der Walt points out, "The average product has to last for the average human lifespan, so we have to be extremely particular in our engineering of
components and the materials that we use."

Southern Implants' application of the Xantrex Programmable power supply is a simple yet critical one, says Van der Walt. Other applications of this
approach to colouring titanium include artificial limbs, such as those used by Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, to make them more acceptable to younger
patients.

Comtest's Hilton Preston says, "The Xantrex XHR DC power supply provides 1000 watts of DC power in a compact half-rack package. The XHR is power
factor corrected for low current draw - only 11 amps at 120 volts AC for 1000 watts - and reduced generation of input current harmonics. Zero voltage
or "soft switching" virtually eliminates switching transients for high efficiency, low noise and high reliability."
Comtest has the sole southern African distribution for the Xantrex range of precision programmable power supplies for R&D, test and measurement, process
control, power bus simulation and power conditioning applications across diverse industrial segments.