Keysight E36154AGV – Auto-ranging Benchtop Power Supply (30V/80A/800W) with Oscilloscope/AWG Option

For more than 50 years, Keysight Technologies, Inc. DC power supplies have been changing the way how engineers prove their design, understand the issues, and ensure product quality. The E36150 Series continues to innovate, providing even more power on the bench with an 800W output and exciting new features that will power your next insights as you design, test, and optimize your electronic products.

Get the most out of your power supplies with auto-ranging architecture. Auto-ranging power supplies, as opposed to single- or dual-range power supplies, allow for much more voltage and current combinations within the maximum power output, providing you with greater use case coverage.

Please note, the charts below show two separate items – E36154A is on the left, E36155A is on the right.

Certain applications, especially those with electromechanical components such as motors, actuators, and pumps, typically require a much higher start-up current to boot. This start-up current may be two or three times higher than its operating current, but only for a short period of time. The E36150 Series is built for such applications with peak power handling capability that can accommodate a short burst of load spikes from your DUTs for up to three times the maximum power rating at 2400W.

To further enhance the voltage regulation and measurement accuracy of the DC outputs, the E36150 Series includes 4-wire remote sensing, in addition to the convenience of 2-wire local sensing. Remote sensing uses a second set of leads to monitor the voltage at the test device terminal and automatically and continuously adjust the output to compensate for the voltage drops in the power leads. Internal relays enable the switching between 2-wire local sensing and 4-wire remote sensing with just a push of a button, thus eliminating the need for shorting bars or jumpers.

Your safety is of paramount importance, and Keysight takes top priority to ensure that. The E36150 series features a new detachable front binding connection that can withstand its maximum current output of 80A while fully complying with the IEC 61010 safety requirements. The design includes proper insulation and well-thought-out mechanical aspects that prevent potential hazardous contacts when you are making connections. In addition, a thermal sensor auto protection mechanism is built-in to detect the abnormal temperature at the busbar that may be due to, for example, loose or incorrect cable connections. If that does occur, the power supply will immediately shut down its current output automatically until the issue has been resolved.

The front binding post is detachable from the instrument to allow easy access to the downward-facing power output ports without the need of tilting the instrument. The detachable post also includes an error-proof Poka-yoke mounting fixture to ensure correct orientation connection every time.

As additional layers of protection, the E36150 Series includes over-voltage protection (OVP), overtemperature protection (OTP), and over-current protection (OCP) with configurable settings to limit the output values or threshold period according to the sensitivity of your devices to prevent potential damages.

The Keysight E36150 is offered in several configurations with built-in options for oscilloscope and arbitrary waveform generation functionality (E36150ADVU), as well as an automotive option (E36150ATMU).

The chart below outlines several features these options provide:

The E36150 Series offers an upgrade option E36150ADVU to provide scope view features that function as a built-in oscilloscope. The scope view is a great tool to capture the in-depth details of current, voltage and power waveforms in the time domain. This enables precise analysis of dynamic transient behaviors, including pulses of current loading, peak demands, dropouts, rise times, and other DC transients and disturbances in your DUT.

The scope view utilizes a high-speed digitizer that supports up to 10 us / 100 kHz sampling rate and 256K samples. The system can be set to turn on automatically when the current or voltage user-set threshold configuration is met, or it can be programmed into your specific output sequence. For example, to make an in-rush current measurement on your DUT, you can set the scope to trigger on the DC output’s on/off key, set the trigger mode to single shot, and then turn on the DC output. This will show right away how much current is coming out of the DC module and into the DUT, giving a picture of the DUT’s in-rush current. Thus, it provides an integrated functionality that can reduce setup time and complexity.

The arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) is included in the E36150ADVU upgrade option that enhances the LIST mode programming functionality from 100 to 512 setpoints as well as allowing arbitrary waveform output. The users can precisely modulate the DC power output by defining each point of the voltage or current waveforms. You can define up to 512 setpoints with configurable dwell time, thus allowing you to simulate or emulate specific application scenarios easily.

AWG builder includes a user interface with pre-configured waveform patterns that you can select, such as sine, step, ramp, pulse, trapezoid, etc. You can also select user-defined voltage or current to form your own arbitrary waveform sequences. Once you have selected the waveform pattern, you can then configure the various parameters. You can also import user-defined waveforms from a .CSV file for convenient playback of a specific scenario previously recorded.

Electronic components used in automotive applications need to be immune to the harsh power systems in which they operate. Power system surges and drop-outs are common, therefore automotive electronic manufacturers are required to design and thoroughly validate their products to ensure optimum operation even in such conditions. ISO standard test specifications such as ISO16750 and ISO7637, have been developed that replicate some of the power transients seen in automotive applications, and compliance is required for quality assurance.

The E36150 Series now support a new upgrade option E36150ATMU that allow you to quickly generate complex power transients that is specified in the ISO and more. The option simplifies validation of your product design throughout the development cycle and therefore minimizing the risk of development regression.

The E36150ATMU upgrade option brings these four new features:

• Enhanced programming speed up to 7.5x faster to support the fast voltage drops and rises that are required for some of the power transient simulations.
• Built-in automotive ISO preset library (requires both E36150ATMU and E36150ADVU). The library includes up to seven waveforms including the starting profile, reset behavior, motor regen, load dump, etc. that are derived from the ISO. The library allows the users to readily load the ISO waveform without tedious manual output programming, and at the same time provide the users flexibility to easily go into the various segments of the waveforms and modify the settings with the intuitive embedded UI according to your test case application.
• Playback simulation with Constant Dwell Arb. Import and output complex waveforms up to 10,000 constant dwell setpoints. One step further than just ensuring compliance to the ISO, this feature allows you to capture actual power conditions in the real vehicle system where your DUT will operate from an oscilloscope in CSV format and then play it back repeatedly in the lab with your E36150 Series.
• External datalogger (E-Logger) with fast sampling rate up to 1 ms of concurrent voltage and current traces measurements (requires both E36150ATMU and E36150ADVU). The sampling rate and resolution of the measurement system for automotive ISO test applications must be adapted to record all the maximum/minimum values (peaks or bottoms), and to unambiguously detect any interruptions and short circuits while performing the ISO tests. The E-logger feature is able to support this requirement by continuously sending these critical measurements data to your PC via LAN or USB interface in a configurable interval (default setting every 0.1 second) ensuring timely live update and all data are precisely recorded.

Automotive ISO preset library readily to be loaded (left). Each of the ISO preset waveforms are segmented into steps that allow users to easily go into the specific segments and modify the parameters according to user test cases. Additional steps can be added or removed for greater flexibility (right).