Evaulation_Engineering_March_2020 - 8

POWER SUPPLIES/LOADS

Sponsored by
Elektro-Automatik

SPECIAL REPORT

POWER MEASUREMENTS SPAN
IOT TO GRID SIMULATION
By Rick Nelson, Contributing Technical Editorr

The gamut of electronic and electrical
products from low-power mobile
handsets and IoT devices to electric vehicles and photovoltaic inverters is placing considerable emphasis on fast and
accurate power sourcing and measurement. Companies are offering a variety
of programmable power supplies and
loads, plus some fixed supplies, that can
be applied to the task. APEC, March 8-12
in New Orleans, will provide an opportunity for vendors to showcase their
products.
"eMobility was our largest growth market in 2018 and 2019," commented Eric
Turner, managing director, EA ElektroAutomatik Inc. "eMobility includes hardware-line battery chargers, drivetrains,
HV inverters, switches, cables, powerdistribution systems, and batteries. We're
also seeing increased activity in fuel-cell
applications."
Turner expects to see demands for
higher power density and compact unit
size coupled with a rugged mechanical
design with liquid cooling for harsh environments. "An increased DC voltage range
up to 2,000 V will be needed for solar PV
simulation, eMobility, renewable energy,
and high-voltage test equipment for automotive applications," he said. "High
flexibility at the system level is needed

for power scaling up to > 2 MW."
Turner continued, "Over the course
of 2019, EA Elektro-Automatik released
three new lines of the autoranging 10000
4U Series, our latest SiC-based-generation
programmable supplies and loads. The
three series comprise a programmable
DC supply, programmable regenerative
load, and programmable bidirectional DC
supply (2-quadrant). Power levels range
from 30 kW to a massive 2 MW and up to
2,000 VDC-all standard commercially
off-shelf availability."
The 10000 4U Series also offers a watercooled (WC) option that offers a complete
sealed chassis. "The water-cooling architecture removes 95% of the overall heat,
and the remaining 5% is dissipated within
the chassis," Turner said. "A 240-kW 42U
rack with 95% efficiency has only a total
of 12.6 kW of heat loss through the WC
cold plate, so only 600 W is dissipated
within the chassis. As a side benefit, the
reduction in subjected heat to internal
components improves product reliability.
When expanding into the 2-MW power
range, the reduction in losses becomes a
massive benefit for our customers."
Turner cited other products as well,
including the PSB 9000 and 10000 Series
of bidirectional (2-quadrant) DC power
supplies. "2-quad is the ability to both

source and sink power with zero crossover deadtime," he explained. "Hardware
like EV/PHEV chargers, batteries, and HV
inverters are just a few examples that require the ability to source and sink power.
While in sink mode (load mode) the PSB
returns up to 95% of the energy back
to the localized AC grid, which greatly
reduces operational costs. Using a highefficiency power stage allows EA to pack
up to 30 kW in a single-rackmount 4U
chassis."
He described EA Elektro-Automatik's
ELR 9000 and 10000 Series as a subset
of the PSB and as a standalone programmable regenerative DC load. "Like
the PSB, the ELR returns up to 95% to
the grid. Other than being a 'green solution,' the ELR packs up to 30 kW in a
4U chassis, which is a 65% reduction in
size compared to traditional air-cooled
loads." He emphasized, "Yes, you read that
correctly-a 65% reduction in size which
saves you valuable rack or lab space."
Turner added, "High-power systems (30
kW+) are generally a multichassis solution that requires integration and system
build into 19-in. racks. Customers need to
maintain focus on their product development and not worry about designing and
sourcing material to build up the system.
EA Elektro-Automatik helps customers
by offering turnkey, off-theshelf solutions up to 2 MW
and 2,000 VDC with no NRE
design costs."
Kai Li, product manager at
Mean Well, identified several

EA Elektro-Automatik PSB 10000
Series bidirectional (2-quadrant) DC
power supply.

EVALUATION ENGINEERING MARCH 2020

Evaulation_Engineering_March_2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Evaulation_Engineering_March_2020