Atec Agilent-N6700 Series - Manual (Page 4)

4
Programmable voltage slew
For some applications, like inrush
limiting or powering rate-sensitive
devices, it is necessary to slow down
and control the speed of the power
supply to maintain a specific voltage
slew rate. The N6700 provides pro-
grammable voltage slew rate, so that
you can easily control the speed at
which the output slews from one volt-
age to another. You can set the speed
of a voltage change anywhere from
its maximum up/down programming
speed to its slowest change of up to
10 seconds. Programmable voltage
slew is available from the front panel
when operating the N6700 manually
or via computer control.
Series operation
To increase available voltage and
power, similarly rated outputs can be
operated directly in series.
Easy parallel operation with
virtual channels
To increase available output power
and current, identical outputs can
be operated in parallel. To simplify
parallel operation for applications
requiring currents greater than any
single output can provide, the N6700
offers virtual channels, a firmware-
based feature that allows the N6700
system to treat up to 4 channels as
a single, synchronized channel. Once
configured, all functions (sourcing,
measurements, triggering, protection,
and status monitoring) behave as if
there is 1 channel of up to 4 times the
capacity of a single channel, without
writing a single line of code to man-
age the interaction and synchroniza-
tion of the paralleled power supplies.
Virtual channel capability is available
from the front panel when operating
the N6700 manually or via computer
control.
Power management feature
allows you allocate mainframe
power
Often, a DUT requires a single high
power DC source and several very
low power DC sources. Since the DUT
does not require full power to all out-
puts, you may choose to save money
configuring a system where the sum
of the power modules installed in a
mainframe exceeds the total power
available from the mainframe. In
this case, the power management
features of the N6700 allow you to
allocate mainframe power to the
outputs where it is needed, achieving
maximum asset utilization and flex-
ibility. This feature provides safety
from unexpected and dangerous
shutdowns that can occur with power
systems without power management
when operated in a similar way.
For example, if your DUT requires
280 W on its main input, and 10 W
each on three auxiliary inputs, you
can configure a system consisting of
one 300 W DC module and three
100 W DC modules. Even though the
sum of the module power is 600 W,
you can still use the N6700B 400 W
MPS mainframe. Thanks to the power
management feature, you can allocate
the full 300 W to the 300 W module
while you allocate only 33 W to each
of the 100 W modules.
Note that if you install one of the new
500 W modules in an N6700B 400 W
MPS mainframe, you may not be able
to run this module at its full rated
output power.