Test and Measurement Solutions for Power Design and Analysis

摘要

Electronic devices that rely on distributed utility AC voltages require power conversion into some form of regulated DC voltage. Though an emphasis has been placed on delivering suitable low voltage supplies for electronics circuits, power electronics engineers across a wide variety of markets from industrial power applications to ultra-low power devices are challenged by the ever increasing demand for power. The demand for more power is accompanied by the task of creating lighter, smaller, cheaper, and higher frequency conversion devices or power supplies that meet the demand of increasing power efficiency, cost and performance requirements. Accompanied with these design challenges is the increasingly difficult task of taking accurate power measurements and obtaining meaningful power analysis results. The push toward smaller, cheaper, and more efficient power supplies has led to the development of ever faster and increasingly efficient switch mode power supply (SMPS). An SMPS incorporates a power semiconductor device that switches on and off at high frequency to direct the transfer of energy through electrical and magnetic components. The fast switching speeds of these semiconductor devices creates a tremendous challenge for capturing accurate voltage and current measurements. The combination of fast switching speeds with an increase in power density and performance requirements makes power analysis an extremely difficult task.