DC power supplies minimise setup time, says EA Elektro-Automatik
DC power supply manufacturer, EA Elektro-Automatik, has introduced its 10000 series enhanced and expanded line of EA-PS and EA-PSI programmable DC power supplies, EA-PSB bidirectional DC power supplies, and EA-ELR regenerative DC electronic loads.
The 10000 series includes over 180 new models, with power ranges from 0 to 600W to 0 to 30kW. The models provide extended voltages from 0 to 10V to 0 to 2,000V, and provide output current as high as 1,000A.
All 10000 series instruments operate on the same firmware and have the same touchscreen user interface. The physical layout is the same, and all instruments have similar input and output characteristics. The common programming and user interface saves test development and setup time when building test systems that require multiple power instrumentation, said EA Elektro-Automatik.
All instruments also employ an auto-ranging output (input if an electronic load) characteristic. Auto-ranging enables the instrument to have a higher voltage capability at lower currents and a higher current capability at lower voltages than a power supply or load with a conventional rectangular output/input characteristic. An instrument with autoranging output/input can deliver/accept full power output over a significant portion of the instrument’s operating range, explained EA, whereas an instrument with a rectangular output characteristic has maximum power only at its maximum voltage and current. The autoranging capability therefore offers access to a wider range of voltages and currents enabling the engineer to test more applications without the need for multiple power level supplies, said EA.
The EA-PSI supplies, EA-PSB supplies and EA-ELR loads all have a built-in function generator to allow creation of complex signals riding on a DC bias and to simulate the characteristics of devices such as solar cells, batteries, and fuel cells. Special functions enable maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and EN 50530 for solar panel inverter testing and LV123-, LV124-, and LV148-standard based test sequences for testing of automotive components and systems. The built-in functions simplify the tasks of programming the instrument to simulate various devices and creating sequences of outputs (or inputs) to comply with key test standards.
All models of the 10000 series employ active power factor correction, typically 0.99, to minimize the power drawn from the power grid. Additionally, EA-PSB bi-directional power supplies and EA-ELR electronic loads employ regenerative circuitry to return energy back to the grid with up to greater than 96 per cent efficiency. EA pointed out that regenerative circuitry saves operation costs and the expense of cooling requirements to dissipate the heat that a conventional electronic load generates.
The 10000 series instruments work in either PC-controlled test systems or PLC-controlled industrial processes. Engineers can easily program the instruments using SCPI or ModBus programming modes. PC interface options include Ethernet, USB, and RS-232, while PLC interfaces include CanBus, Profibus, ModBus, Profinet, and EtherCat.
Test engineers can parallel up to 64 of the 10000 series power supplies and loads using the master-auxiliary bus to enable one instrument to control all instruments in the system. The system can consist of any combination of instrument power levels within the same EA-XXX family. A galvanically isolated share-bus interface in each instrument ensures that all the instruments safely share the load requirements so that the entire rack can operate with full performance.
