The simulation disagrees with the bench
Your model says one efficiency and the board says another. A sample built to a known construction, measured at your waveform, tells you which one is wrong.
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Fast Samples
For when the bench is waiting. ConverNova builds quick turn samples of custom transformers, inductors and common mode chokes so you can measure a real part instead of arguing with a simulation. Based in Madrid, Spain, we aim to return an engineering answer within 24 hours and there is no minimum order quantity. A sample is not a qualified production design, and the difference is the point of this page.
The difference
A sample and a prototype are not the same thing.
Both are real parts. What changes is how much design work sits behind them, and what you can conclude from the measurement.
Send us your spec| Fast sample | Prototype | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Prove the concept on your bench | The part you qualify and then buy |
| Design depth | Sized and wound to hit the electrical target | Optimised for efficiency, cost, thermal and manufacturability |
| Construction | Whatever is quickest that still measures true | The production construction, materials and drawing |
| Report | The measured electrical parameters | Full report: loss split, temperature rise, hipot, drawing |
| Scales to production | Not directly, it is a learning part | Yes, off the same drawing |
| Lead time | Shorter, driven by material stock | 4 to 8 weeks from an agreed design |
If you already know what you want and you want the part you will buy, go straight to prototypes. If you are still deciding, a sample is cheaper than a wrong decision.
When it earns its place
Four situations we see constantly.
Two topologies, one board slot
You want to compare an LLC against a phase shift bridge with real magnetics rather than datasheet approximations. Two samples settle it in weeks.
The catalog part nearly fits
It is 20 percent too big or 2 points down on efficiency. A sample shows you what a designed part would actually buy before you commit to custom.
A customer needs to see something
A working demonstrator with real magnetics, ahead of the qualification programme, is sometimes what gets the project signed off.
Straight answers
Fast samples, the usual questions.
How fast is fast?
It depends on the raw materials. When the core and the wire are in stock a
sample is considerably quicker than the 4 to 8 weeks a full prototype takes, because the
design work is lighter. Tell us your date and we will tell you honestly whether it is
possible.
Can a sample go into production?
Not directly. A sample is built to answer a question, not to be manufacturable
at volume or to survive a qualification programme. What it does is de-risk the design that
then becomes the prototype.
Do I get measurements with it?
Yes. Every part is measured before it ships. A sample gets the electrical
parameters; a prototype gets the full report with the loss split and the temperature rise.
What is the minimum order?
One.
Start here
Tell us what you need to find out.
Not just the part. The question you are trying to answer changes what we build and how fast we can build it.