Agilent Technologies Extends Range of Modular Power System Up to 100V or 80A with New Modules, Paralleling Capabilities

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 2/Satnews Daily/ — Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) has introduced new modules and paralleling capabilities to its modular power system that extend its range up to 100V or 80A.

The Agilent N6700 low-profile modular power system (MPS) is a 1U (1-EIA rack unit) high, multiple-output programmable DC power supply system that gives test system integrators in the aerospace/defense, consumer electronics, computers and peripherals, communications, semiconductor and automotive industries the flexibility to optimize performance, power and price to match test needs.

"Our customers have strongly accepted the innovative, mix-and-match design, performance and ease-of-use of the Agilent N6700 MPS, and they have asked us to broaden the offering," said Scott Sampl, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Basic, Emerging, and Systems Technologies Division. "In response, we've introduced new modules and industry-leading paralleling capabilities to expand the range of operation. We continue to provide flexibility to satisfy the requirements of simple test systems all the way up to complex ATE systems that often require multiple power sources."

Three basic programmable power supply modules have been added to the Agilent N6700 MPS to extend its range of coverage up to 100V and 20A. For example, the 5V, 20A module provides high current at low voltage for applications including digital logic device testing and burn-in. The 100V, 1A module provides high voltage at low current for applications including field effect transistor voltage breakdown testing.

New virtual channel capabilities simplify the process of paralleling and improve performance when operating in parallel. A virtual channel enables engineers to set up the MPS to treat up to four channels as a single, synchronized channel up to 80A to address applications requiring currents greater than any single output can provide. Its paralleling capability is the industry's first to support all power supply functions -- including sourcing, measurements, triggering, protection and status monitoring -- without writing a single line of code to manage the interaction and synchronization of the paralleled power supplies.

The Agilent N6700 MPS also has been enhanced to provide programmable voltage slew rate, which is required for such applications as inrush limiting or powering rate-sensitive devices. This capability enables engineers to generate a 0V to full-scale voltage change that is controllable from 100 microseconds to 10 seconds with a single programming command.

The Agilent N6700 modular power system offers industry-leading processing speeds up to 10 to 50 times faster than other programmable power supplies, built-in digital multimeters, the choice of 50W and 100W output power levels, various voltage and current combinations, and three performance levels in a 1U-high package. The Agilent N6700 MPS enables test system engineers to mix and match from 16 different DC power modules to create a one- to four-channel DC power system optimized to meet specific automatic test equipment (ATE) application requirements. Test system engineers can invest in high-performance outputs where speed and accuracy are needed, or purchase basic performance outputs for simple DC power requirements at prices starting at $1,000 per output.

The Agilent N6700 MPS also offers high-speed test extensions and autoranging output capabilities that help simplify system configuration and enable one power supply to do the job of several traditional ones. The N6700 MPS is an Agilent system-ready test instrument that provides universal serial bus (USB 2.0), 10/100 Base-T Ethernet (LAN) and general-purpose interface bus (GPIB) interfaces as standard features, allowing quick and simple connectivity to a PC, or to a network for access across an engineering workgroup. The Agilent N6700 can also be remotely operated from any browser by connecting to its built-in Web page for control and monitoring of power supply operations.