Upcoming software release unleashes the N7900 APS’s potential without any programming

Our N7900A Advanced Power System (APS) is well named, being the most advanced power product we’ve introduced to date. In many ways it is based on our N6700 series modular DC power system and N6705B DC power analyzer, incorporating their capabilities, including:

• High precision programming and measurement
• Seamless measurement ranging
• High speed measurement digitization of voltage, current, and power
• Long term data logging of voltage, current, and power
• Output ARB and List capabilities
• And quite a bit more

In addition the N7900A APS brings quite a few new and unique capabilities as well, including:

• Much greater output power
• Logic-configurable expression signal routing for advanced custom triggering and control
• Optional external dissipater unit for full two quadrant operation
• Optional black box recorder for post-test diagnostics when needed
• And quite a bit more

To take advantage of these advance capabilities does require a bit of programming, which is to generally be expected for an automated test environment, but in low volume design validation and R&D this can slow down the desired quick time-to-result. The N6705B DC Power Analyzer, in Figure 1, has a full-featured front panel menu and graphical display that lets design validation and R&D users quickly configure and run complex power-related tests on their devices. In comparison, the N6700 series, pictured in Figure 2, does not have all the front panel capabilities of the N6705B and can be looked on as the ATE version of this product platform, requiring programming to take advantage of its advanced capabilities. The N6705B shares all the same DC power modules that the N6700 series uses.

Figure 1: The N6705B DC Power Analyzer, primarily for bench use

Figure 2: The N6700 series Modular DC Power System, primarily for ATE

The N7900A APS is very similar in form and function to the N6700 series, not having all the advanced front panel capabilities that the N6705B has for bench-friendly use of its advanced features. I am really pleased to be able to share with you that this is now changing! While we are not creating a bench version of the N7900 APS, we are upgrading our 14585A Control and Analysis software, which emulates the front panel of an N6705B and more, to work with the N7900 APS as well. The 14585A will soon let you quickly and easily create and configure complex power-related tests based on using the N7900 APS.  I am fortunate enough to be working with a beta version of the software. Some examples of things I was able to do in just a few minutes were to capture the inrush current of an automotive headlight, shown in Figure 3, and superimpose an AC sine wave disturbance on top of the DC output, shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3: Auto headlamp inrush current captured with 14585A software and N7951A APS

Figure 4: Sine wave voltage disturbance on top of DC generated by 14585A software and N7951A APS

The updated release of the 14585A Control and Analysis software is just a few weeks away. More about the 14585A software can be found by clicking on the following link <14585A>. With the 14585A being a great way to implement ideas and tests quickly, using the N7900 APS, look for me and others coming up with some interesting applications in future posts here on “Watt’s Up?”!

New Agilent Advanced Power System: More on High-Power!

Last week, I announced two new families of high-power system DC power supplies from Agilent Technologies:

• N6900/N7900 Series 1- and 2-kW Advanced Power System (APS) DC Power Supplies
• N8900 Series 5-, 10-, and 15-kW Autoranging DC Power Supplies

Here is the press release on these two new families:

http://www.agilent.com/about/newsroom/presrel/2013/04sep-em13103.html

In my post last week, I concentrated on the N8900 Series of autoranging power supplies. Those are basic DC power supplies with outputs up to 15 kW (can be paralleled to 100 kW and more). Today, I am focusing on the N6900/N7900 Series of Advanced Power System DC Power Supplies. These power supplies really do live up to their “Advanced Power System” label. I’ve been working here on power products since 1980 and have supported several feature-rich product families in that time: most notable were our AC source products (6811B, 6812B, and 6813B) and more recently, our battery drain analysis source/measure units (N6705B with N6781A). The new N6900/N7900 Advanced Power System rivals those products for rich features and quite honestly, just like our marketing slogan says, they really should help you “overcome your toughest power test challenges”. Why? Read on…

First the basics:

• There are ten 1 kW models each in a 1U package
• There are fourteen 2 kW models each in a 2U package
• Rated output voltages range from 9 V to 160 V
• Rated output currents range from 12.5 A to 200 A
• Outputs can be paralleled up to 10 kW

Here is what these products look like:

Now for a few details. There are two performance levels:

• N6900 Series is designed for ATE applications where high performance is critical
• N7900 Series is designed for ATE applications where high-speed dynamic sourcing and measurement is needed

Both performance levels have advanced power features including:

   Sourcing

• Precision voltage and current programming (N6900 is 14-bit; N7900 is 16-bit)
• Programmable output resistance
• Current sinking up to 10% of rated current (up to 100% with added N7909A power dissipator)

   Measurement

• 18-bit voltage and current measurements
• Power measurements
• Amp-Hour and Watt-Hour measurements

The higher performance N7900 products add more features to the above:

    Sourcing

• Precision 16-bit voltage and current programming (N6900 is 14-bit)
• Output lists to quickly step through voltage or current levels
• Arbitrary waveform generation

    Measurement

• Low current measurement range
• Seamless ranging for dynamic current measurements
• Adjustable sample rate
• Measurement array readback
• External data logging

And even more capabilities:

• Extended current measurement range that measures 2.25 x higher than the rated current
• Sampling up to 200 kS/s
• Extensive triggering capability
• Extensive protection features such as open sense lead detect, over- and under-voltage and current, and over-temperature
• And my personal favorite: you can track power events by adding a black box recorder (N7908A). The N7908A Black Box Recorder is a user-installable option that performs continuous background logging of output voltage, current, power, and system status to its own dedicated mass storage device. Features of this option include:
• Automatic logging starts when the power supply is turned on
• Logs in a circular buffer of about 380 MB
• Select one record every 10 ms (24 hours of logging) or one record every 100 ms (10 days of logging).
• Each record saves the average, maximum, and minimum  values for voltage, current, and power in addition to power supply status bits and events
• Logged data is preserved after a power cycle. A time-stamped event is logged each time power is turned on.

The black box recorder is pretty cool, no? If you have a mission critical power application, this option is a must to keep track of any power related events that might affect your device under test.

One of my colleagues, Neil Forcier, posted about these products on his GPETE blog earlier this month. Here is a link to that post: http://gpete-neil.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-new-advanced-power-system-designed.html

For more detailed information, take a look at the datasheet: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5991-2698EN.pdf

The datasheet contains some fantastic details about the products including 9 tests challenges that are directly addressed by these powerful products. In fact, you can read about each of the 9 test challenges here: www.agilent.com/find/TestChallenges

With all of these advanced features built into this family of products, I think you can now appreciate why we called it the Advanced Power System!