Recent months have seen some interesting developments in both desktop power instruments and scopes / digitizers. In the following sections, we look at some of the latest introductions in both areas.
Power instruments
The LPS 3K ac/dc power supply series with power factor correction input from Absopulse Electronics targets applications that require wide output adjustability. The supplies are built with internal modules that are available from stock for output ranges from 14 to 37 V (24 V) at 80 A, 28 to 74 V (48 V) at 40 A or from 60 to 160 V (125 V) at 18 A.
The output voltage and current are displayed on analog meters on the front-panel. Output voltage adjustments are made via a potentiometer knob located below the meters. Electronic adjustment by analog control voltage (0 to 10 V) is also available. This industrial grade series is available in bench-top and rack-mount format and suits product test and engineering labs. The unit accepts a universal AC-input voltage (95V-264Vac). The power factor is corrected to a minimum of 0.97 at full load for the entire input range.
For performing stand-by-power, Energy Star, IEC62301, battery-charger, and other power measurements, Yokogawa Corp. of America’s low-cost WT300 series digital power meters offer updated and innovative measurement functions. Forexample, there’s the Auto Range feature, which optimizes the range setting for maximum accuracy measurements, and the Average Active Power function, which makes it possible to measure power consumption when power fluctuates frequently and significantly.
With prices starting at $3,875, the family consists of three models: the single phase WT310 which can measure currents from 50 μA to 20 A rms, the single phase WT310HC with current ranges from 1 to 40 A rms, and the two- or three-element WT330, which is designed for measuring split- or three-phase circuits and has ranges of 0.5 to 20 A rms. All models have voltage ranges from 15 to 600 V rms.
B&K Precision’s 9170/9180 series of programmable dual-range dc-power supplies feature nine models that taken together provide power up to 210 W, voltages to 600 V, and current to 20 A. Available in rack-mountable, single- and dual-output configurations, these supplies suit benches in design engineering labs as well as ATE applications on manufacturing floors. Each model offers two ranges of voltage and of current output, along with modular interface slots for remote interface configurability.
Priced starting at $985, the supplies provide clean and stable power, with line regulation Agilent Technologies two-channel N7747A and four-channel N7748A optical power meters bring the industry-leading sensitivity of the 81634B sensor module to the compact multichannel N77 platform, with updated memory size and data-transfer speed. The meters let engineers make parallel multiport measurements and monitor weak signals and small signal changes with high precision — they can detect power levels down to –110 dBm. They can also log data at intervals down to 25 µs with up to 1 Mpoints/channel, in a data buffer that supports simultaneous measurement and data transfer. Typical configuration starts at $20,750.
The meters are designed to provide high relative accuracy with extremely low polarization dependence and spectral ripple, as well as high, specified linearity. Up to eight power-meter channels fit in a single 19-in. rack, and each channel also has a front-panel BNC connector that outputs an analog voltage proportional to the signal observed. The meters can be used with N77xx viewer software for control and reading, and are pogrammable with the same set of SPCI commands as the manufacturer's other optical power meters. The latest version of the 816x VXI plug&play driver supports these products, and interfaces are provided for USB 2.0, LAN, and GPIB.
Scopes and digitizers
The Model 71641 digital down-converter XMC module can digitize one 12-bit channel at 3.6 GHz or two channels at 1.8 GHz. The module uses a Virtex-6 FPGA and it is suitable for evaluation of HF or IF ports in communications or radar systems.
Priced starting from $23,695, the module has four 512 MB DDR3 SDRAM memory banks and supports PCI Express Gen2 as a native interface. The unit’s decimating filter accepts a unique set of user-supplied 16-bit coefficients. Rejection of adjacent-band components, within the 80% output bandwidth, is better than 100 dB.
Agilent Technologies’ Infiniium 9000 H-Series consists of four high-definition oscilloscopes priced from $14,950 with bandwidths of 250 MHz, 500 MHz, 1 GHz, and 2 GHz. They not only offer up to 12-bit vertical resolution — 50% more than typical digital scopes — but also have the industry's deepest standard memory — up to 100 Mpoints/channel. Further, the scopes can work with the N2820A and N2821A ac/dc current probes, whose prices start at $3,000, with sensitivity down to 50 uA and 5-A maximum current range.
The combination of scope and probe lets users view small signals using hypersampling and linear noise-reduction technology to provide noise levels three times lower than 8-bit oscilloscopes.
The 2550 Series two- and four-channel digital storage oscilloscopes from B&K Precision offer high-speed sampling of 2 Gsamples/s with maximum bandwiths of 70, 100, 200, and 300 MHz. With an entry-level price around $1,000, the compact scopes feature a widescreen, 7-in. TFT color display to maximize signal visibility, as well as 24 kpoints/channel memory.
All models offer debugging tools such as digital filtering with adjustable limits, waveform recorder mode, pass/fail testing, advanced triggering capabilities, 32 automatic measurements, and internal storage of up to 20 different waveforms and 20 oscilloscope setups. The scopes can also perform five waveform math functions: add, subtract, multiply, divide, and FFT.
Thing to come
This spring, Tektronix made announcements related to these benchtop instrument categories that will bear fruit later in the year. In March, the company said it will enter the power analyzer instrument market and introduce a full new product line in the coming months. To facilitate this, Tektronix has agreed to transfer technology, which includes power analyzer intellectual property, patents, and product designs, from its partner Voltech, which will exit the power analyzer segment of its business by this September.
Then in April, the Beaverton, OR, company announced that its lab testing has shown that its planned next-generation, high-performance oscilloscopes – due for availability in 2014 – will deliver real-time bandwidth of 70 GHz, with potential for significantly higher bandwidths. The new oscilloscope architecture is designed to deliver the performance and signal fidelity needed for applications such as 400 Gbit/s and 1 Tbit/s optical communications, as well as fourth generation serial data communications.
Looks like it will be an interesting fall.
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