AV-156A-B-P Avtech Electrosystems Pulsed Constant Current Generator

The Avtech Electrosystems AV-156 Series Pulsed Constant Current Generators was designed for a wide variety of component testing applications. The AV-156 series is used to test a wide range of devices, including laser diodes, LED lighting arrays, airbag squibs, fuses, power resistors, and power semiconductors. All AV-156 models described here include IEEE-488.2 GPIB and RS-232 computer control interfaces, making them ideal for many automatic test and R&D applications.

The Avtech Electrosystems AV-156K-B is a +0.01 to +2 Amp pulser, with 200 ns rise and fall times. The pulse width is variable from 1 us to 10 ms, with repetition rates to 100 kHz. The maximum duty cycle is 80% for amplitudes below 1A, and 40% for amplitudes to 2A. The usable load voltage range is 0 to +20 Volts.

The Avtech Electrosystems AV-156A-B is a +0.01 to +5 Amp pulser, providing 4 us rise times, pulse widths from 10 us to 10 ms (100 ms optional), pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to 10 kHz and a load voltage range of 0 to +15 Volts.

The Avtech Electrosystems AV-156G-B is similar, but the maximum amplitude is increased to 10 Amps, and the maximum duty cycle is 10%.

The load voltage of both the AV-156A-B and AV-156G-B can be increased to +25V by adding the -HC option.

The Avtech Electrosystems AV-156L-B is a +0.02 to +20 Amp pulser, providing 15 us rise times, pulse widths from 30 us to 3 ms, pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to 1 kHz and a load voltage range of 0 to +32 Volts.

The Avtech Electrosystems AV-156M-B offers an unusually high compliance voltage of 350V, with peak amplitudes up to 1.5A, making it useful for testing series arrays of LED lighting devices.

For more complex test applications, two dual-channel units are manufactured. The AV-156E-B is dual-channel 5 Amp, 25 Volt unit ideal for airbag squib testing. The output pulse widths are independently variable up to 100 ms. The amplitudes are also independently variable. One of the two channels has a variable delay, of 0 to 1.0 seconds. The pulse repetition frequency is variable from 1 to 100 Hz and the unit includes pushbutton and external triggering capability. Both channels share a common trigger. The AV-156E-B offers 10 us rise and fall times.

The AV-156F-B is a similar dual-channel pulser, but offers higher amplitudes of 0 to +10 Amps, with 4 us rise & fall times. The pulse repetition frequency is variable from 0.5 to 50 Hz.

All models include a rear-panel monitor output (for display on an oscilloscope) that provides an attenuated coincident voltage replica of the load current. All models are protected against high duty cycle overload conditions by an automatic control feature that limits the average output power for as long as the overload condition persists.

On initial power-up, the output is shorted to ground by a relay, until the output is enabled by the user. The shorting relay may be reenabled as required.

All instruments with the -B suffix include a complete computer control interface. This provides GPIB and RS-232 computer control, as well as front panel keypad and adjust knob control of the output pulse parameters. A large backlit LCD displays the output amplitude, frequency, pulse width, and delay. To allow easy integration into automated test systems, the programming command set is based on the SCPI standard.

A standard rear-panel Ethernet connector allows the instrument to be remotely controlled using the VXI-11.3, ssh, telnet, and web protocols. In particular, the VXI-11.3 features allows software like LabView to control an instrument using standard VISA communications drivers and network cabling, instead of using older-style GPIB cabling and GPIB controller cards.

All models require 100-240 Volt, 50-60 Hz prime power.