PLS1000CM BRIEF OVERVIEW
The PLS1000CM tester is designed primarily to do SURGE testing by methods 4066-1 and 4066-2. It can be used also to do VF and THERMAL RESPONSE testing.
When doing 4066-1 or -2 testing, the PLS1000CM can deliver up to 50A IO and up to 1300V VR (-1). The steady state IO and VRM are delivered for a user programmable number of cycles followed by a single half cycle of SURGE (up to 1000A peak) and a single half cycle of VRSM (-1). The above can then be repeated a programmable number of times.
Of course the IO for the -2 method is DC. However the duty cycle is still programmed in equivalent 60HZ power line cycles.
The VF corresponding to the peak surge current during the final pulse is measured and reported. This voltage can also be compared with limits both maximum and minimum.
The half sine pulses produced by the tester are single “surge” pulses and can be programmed to be either 8.3mS or 10mS in duration regardless of the local power line frequency. This is done, by controlling a constant current source, with the output of a Digital-Analog Converter (DAC). The DAC is being driven with data stored in tables in the controller’s RAM.
The high voltage supply that delivers the VRM half sines is isolated from the low voltage forward supply by a large SCR that is turned on during the forward half cycle. The reverse supply can deliver roughly 10mA into a shorted load and is designed to tolerate this condition.
The user can easily monitor the 4066 operation with an oscilloscope with one channel watching the reverse voltage on the cathode and a second channel monitoring the forward current using the 200A/V output connector on the front panel. (BNC).
VF can be measured with a single rectangular pulse of programmable amplitude and width. The maximum current for short pulses is 1200A.
DVF and THETA are both THERMAL RESPONSE tests and both are performed in substantially the same way. The difference is that DVF reports the change in VF at a low current before and after a heating pulse. THETA makes the same measurement but reports the results in Degrees Celsius per Watt of applied power. In order to do this, the tester must know the change in VF per degree at the low current (IM). The user must program in this value. There are a few circuit considerations where the needs of 4066 and those of THERMAL RESPONSE are in conflict. Therefore it is necessary to hookup the test fixture to the tester in slightly different ways for these two tests. A drawing is included to make this clear. No damage will occur if the hookup is wrong, but the test results will be poor.
The PLS1000CM can be used as a stand-alone tester, programmed by the built-in keypad and LCD display. However, the tester comes bundled with our program VFS2, which can control the tester from a host PC. This is a much easier way to program the tester. More important than ease of programming is the variety of plots and statistical reports that can be created.
The menu above and on the PLS support home page will help you navigate to more detailed information from the manual. This is intended to give a quick introduction to the PLS1000CM.