HEWLETT M] PACKARD DC POWER SUPP ES

APPLICATION NOTE 6/65

721 A
0-30 V, 0-150mA

The following is a reprint of the

Harrison Labs' application manual.
The last pages of this sales amplifier
list the i$ Power Supplies recommended
for customers with 50 Hz line frequency. *
1 9
6960 A
0-1 8V, 0-600 m A
The Power Supplies shown on this page • ' Aft 0-36 V, 0-300 mA
MiBitai Q
are manufactured in Europe.

6961 A
0-20 V, 0-1.5 A
0-40 V, 0-0.75 A

6962 A
0-20 V, 0-1.5 A

6963 A
. . . 0-40 V, 0-0.075 A
•lalal

6964 A
0-18 V, 0-10 A

\ * '(i 6%5A
0-36 V, 0-5 A
«**
A A

6966 A
0-36 V, 0-10 A
9 9

Page Mill Road. Palo Alto, California. U.S.A.. Cable: "HEWPACK" Tel: (415) 326-7000
MINTED IN W-GEHMANV

urope: 54 Route Des Acacias, Geneva, Switzerland. Cable: "HEWPA CKSA " Tel. (022) 42.81.50
 P O W E R SUPPLY A P P L I C A T I O N M A N U A L

A. H-LAI FOWER SUPPLY CIRCUIT PRINCIPLES

Al. Introduction 3
A2. Constant Vnltiify 1 Power Supply 3
A3. The Regulated D(' Power Supply—An Operational Amplifier . . . . . 4
A4. Reference < 'ircuitry 4
A5. Comparison Amplifier ('ircuitry 5
A6. Zero Output Impedance 5
A7. Constant ('urrent Power Supply 6
A8. Constant Voltage/Constant Current (CV/CC) Power Supplies. . . . 6
A9. Constant Voltage/Current Limiting (CV/CL) Power Supplies 7
A10. Series Regulator Circuitry 8
A l l . Variable Transformer Preregulator 8
A12. SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier) Preregulator 9
A13. SCR Regulated Power Supplies 9
A14. "Piggy-Back" Regulator 10
B. OPERATIONAL FEATURES AND OPTIONS
Bl. No Overshoot on Turn-On, Turn-Off, or AC Power Removal 11
B2. Protection Circuit* 11
a. Short Circuit Protection 11
b. Constant Current Overvoltage Protection 11
c. Reverse Voltage Protection 11
d. SCR Voltage Protection 11
e. External Overvoltage Protection—"Crowbars" 12
B3. Remote Error Sensing 12
B4. Automatic Error Sensing 13
B5. Remote Programming with Resistance Control 13
B6. Remote Programming with Voltage Control 15
B7. Remote Programming Accuracy : 15
B8 Speed of Remote Programming 16
B9. Parallel Operation 17
BIO. Auto-Parallel Operation 17
Bll. Series Operation 17
B12. Auto-Series Operation 18
B13. Auto-Tracking Operation 18
B14. Grounded and Floating Operation 19
B15. Adjustable Transient Recovery 19
B16. Adjustable Meters 20
B17. Improved Stability with Chopper Stabilization 20
C SPEOAL APPLICATION PROBLEMS
Cl. DC Power Distribution and Multiple Loading 22
C2. Dual Output Using Resistive Divider - , 22
C3. Duty Cycle Loading 22
C4. Reverse Current Loading 24
C5. Converting a Constant Voltage Supply to Constant Current Output -24
C6. Automatic Battery Charging 25
C7. Operation at Elevated Temperatures - 25
D. POWER SUPPLY SPECIFICATIONS—DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENT
Dl. Constant Voltage Power Supply Measurements 26
a. Test Set-Up—General Comments 26
b. Line Regulation 27
c. Load Regulation 28
d. Ripple and Noise : 28
e. Transient Recovery Time 29
f. Stability 30
g. Temperature Coefficient 31
h. Other Constant Voltage Specifications 31
D2. Constant Current Power Supply Measurements 31
a. Test Set-Up—General Comments 31
b. Line Regulation . 32
c. Load Regulation 32
d. Ripple and Noise 32
e. Stability 33
f. Temperature Coefficient 33
g. Other Constant Current Specifications 33
H-LAB TECH LETTERS . 33
 A . H - L A B P O W E R SUPPLY C I R C U I T P R I N C I P L E S

A1. INTRODUCTION applications, is less often used than the series regulator.
Since its inception nearly ten years ago Harrison Lab- A2. CONSTANT VOLTAGE POWER SUPPLY
oratories has been a leader in the design of versatile, An ideal constant voltage power supply would have a
high performance, regulated DC' power supplies so zero output impedance at all frequencies. Thus, as
necessary for the proper performance of most of today's shown in Figure 2, the voltage would remain perfectly
complex load devices. A single H-Lab DC regulated constant in spite of any changes in output current
power supplv employs engineering techniques drawn demanded bv the load.
from the latest advances in many disciplines—low-level,
low-noise amplification, high power, wide-band am-
plifying techniques, operational amplifier and feedback -AE ( ,V:T = 0
principles, pulse circuit techniques, and the newest
developments in semiconductor devices.
The full benefits of the engineering which has gone
into a modern DC regulated power supply cannot be
realized unless the user (1) recognizes the inherent
versatility and high performance capabilities, and (2)
understands how to apply these features. These arc the
two objectives of this Application Manual,which includes FIGURE 2. Idea! constant voltage power supply output
an extensive coverage of power supply circuitry, fea- characteristic.
tures, specifications, measurement methods, and appli- Figure 3 shows the basic feedback circuit principle
cation tips. used in all H-Lab constant voltage power supplies. The
Electronic power supplies can be defined as circuits AC input, after passing through a power transformer, is
which transform electrical input power—either AC or rectified and fijtered. The series regulator, by feedback
DC—into- output power—either AC or DC. This defini- action, alters its voltage drop so as to keep the regulated
tion thus excludes power supplies based on rotating DC.1 output voltage constant in spite of changes fri the
machine principles and distinguishes power supplies unregulated DC,' and other disturbances.
from the more general category of electrical power
sources which derive electrical power from other energy
forms (e.g. batteries, solar cells).
Electronic power supplies may be subdivided into
four classifications:
(1) AC in, AC out—fine regulators and variable frequency
supplies.
(2) DC in, DC out—converters
(3) DC in, AC out—inverters
(4) AC in, DC out
This last subcategory is by far the most common of
the four and is generally the one referred to when speak-
ing of a "power supply". All of the topics of this Appli-
cation Manual relate to AC Input, DC Output power
supplies.
Simple rectifying circuits alone are not adequate to
provide a ripple-free DC whose value remains constant FIGURE 3. Constant voltage regulated DC power supply.
in spite of changes in input line voltage, load resistance,
and ambient temperature; most practical applications The comparison amplifier continuously monitors the
require a regulated power supply which interposes a con- difference between the voltage across the front panel
trol element either in shunt with or in series between voltage control RP and the output voltage. If these volt-
the rectifier and the load device. The shunt regulator, ages are not equal, the amplified error output of the
which must withstand the full output voltage under comparison amplifier is of such a magnitude and polarity
normal operating conditions and is less efficient for most as to change the conduction of the scries regulator, there-
by changing the current through the load resistor until
the output voltage equals the voltage Ei- across the
voltage control.
Since the net difference between the two voltage in-
puts to the comparison amplifier is kept at zero by feed-
back action, the voltage across the resistor R R is also
held equal to the reference voltage ER. Thus the current
IP flowing through RR is constant and equal to
RR
FIGURE 1. Series Regulator Circuit The input impedance of the comparison amplifier is very
high, and essentially all of the current IP flowing through Thus, the function of a regulator in a constant voltage
RR also flows through RP. Because this programming DC power supply is to reproduce the reference input as
current IP is constant, EP (and hence the output volt-
age) is variable and directly proportional to B,p. Thue accurately as possible, with a voltage gain of =^. On a
HR
the output voltage becomes zero if RP is reduced to percentage basis the power supply performance (tem-
zero ohms. perature coefficient, stability, line regulation, ripple,
A3. THE REGULATED DC POWER SUPPLY— etc.) can be no better than the performance of its
AN OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER reference supply.
An operational amplifier is a particular type of volt- Restrictions are generally added to the design of a
age feedback amplifier having its feedback path con- regulated power supply which limit its performance as
nected as shown in Figure 4.* With large values of A, compared with the more general case of the operational
the "summing point" S is essentially at zero potential or amplifier. Among the more important of these are:
1. The power supply is heavily loaded with an output
"virtual ground", and the output signal EQUT = - is~EiN capacitance GO in order to insure feedback loop stability
for any phase angle load.
2. The power supply can conduct current in one direction
only, whereas an operational amplifier will in most cases
be capable of an AC output.
3. The output of a DC power supply is usually current
limited. While there is a maximum current which can be
obtained from any amplifier, a current limited or Con-
stant Voltage/Constant Current regulated power supply
differs in that there is a very sharp limit to the maximum
output current.
The answers to many application problems and ques-
tions involving power supply performance can be obtain-
ed from a simple block diagram consideration of a power
FIGUKE 4. An operational amplifier supply as an operational amplifier which is capacitively
Figure 5 shows the same operational amplifier util- loaded, current limited, and has a unidirectional DC
izing as its input signal the DC voltage developed across output.
a reference diode. An output capacitor and load resistor A4. REFERENCE CIRCUITRY
have also been added. The topology of Figure 5 is iden- In all H-Lab power supplies the reference voltage is
tical to Figure 3, except that in Figure 5 the series reg^ developed across a reference zener diode having a low
ulator has been included as the last stage inside the temperature coefficient and a low incremental resistance.
amplifier block, and the B-f- source and auxiliary rec- This reference zener diode is in turn fed from a reference
tifiers have not been shown explicitly. A constant volt- regulator—actually a low power, closed loop auxiliary
age power supply, therefore, can be thought of as a supply designed to keep the operating current through
particular type of operational amplifier. the reference zener diode constant, thereby assuring
reference voltage immunity against line voltage changes
and other disturbances.
Rather than to develop simply one output voltage, a
reference circuit is generally used in H-Lab power sup-
plies to develop several voltage levels from one auxiliary
supply for use at various points throughout the regulator
circuitry.
Figure G is a simplified schematic of a typical reference
circuit. Nearly all auxiliaries in H-Lab supplies are
referred to the negative output (or negative sensing)
FIGURE 5. Operational amplifier representation of a
constant voltage power supply.
The following chart gives examples of the correspond-
ence between power supply and operational amplifier
terminology:
GENERAL CATEGORY SPECIFIC EXAMPLE

Operational Amplifier Constant Voltage Power Supply

B+ Source Rectifier
Amplifier Regulator
Input Signal DC Reference
Output Signal Regulated DC
*An introduction t<i the operational amplifier concept can be found in Mill-
man. J . and H. Tanh : "Pulse and Digital Circuits," chap. !, McGraw-Hill
Book Company. Inc., New York. 1956. FIGURE 6. A simplified reference circuit
 terminal as a circuit common or ground. Consequently, Figure 8 shows several refinements which Harrison
in Figure 6 the terminal of the reference circuit which is Laboratories typically includes in its comparison circuit
connected to negative sensing has been designated with in order to improve performance and reliability. Capac-
a ground symbol, and most voltages are given with itor Ci is added to improve the regulator performance
respect to this common reference point. with regard to ripple and other AC disturbances. Diodes
This reference circuit is actually a small closed loop DS and 04 are added to limit the maximum voltage
regulator employing Qs as the series regulating element which can l>e impressed on the base of Qj. Normally
and Qc as the comparison amplifier. D] and D2 are low there is zero volts across these diodes and they are not
temperature coefficient zener diodes with low incremen- conducting; sudden changes in the output voltage caused
tal resistance; thus the voltage fluctuation across these by shorting the output terminals or rapidly altering the
reference diodes is even less than any small change value of Rp will cause DS and D4 to conduct, thereby
which may be present across the 18 volt regulated out- preventing the burn-out of transistor Q]. Resistor RS is
put of this reference auxiliary. added to balance the Ico effects of the bases of Qi and
A5. COMPARISON AMPLIFIER CIRCUITRY Q2, and is nominally equal to the base impedance of Qi-
The comparison amplifier circuitry is second in impor- Variable resistor R4 is one way in which positive feed-
tance only to the reference circuit in determining the back can be added within the regulator loop; the reason
degree of regulation which will be obtained. Because of for the addition of this positive feedback is discussed in
the need in the input stage for low noise, low drift per- the next section.
formance, a differential amplifier is frequently used. A
transistor has an emitter-to-base voltage which varies
approximately 2 mv per degree Centrigrade. Such a
voltage variation in the input amplifier stage would be
accompanied by an equal change in the power supply
output voltage. By using two similar transistors in a
differential amplifier configuration and placing them in
thermal proximity, this effect is largely cancelled and
the drift performance of the supply is markedly improved.

FIGURE 8. Constant voltage regulator with improved

comparison circuit.
A6. ZERO OUTPUT IMPEDANCE
As mentioned earlier, the ideal constant voltage
power supply would have a zero output impedance at all
frequencies; this would result in no change in output
voltage for a change in output current from no load to
full load, and would mean that there could be no mutual
FIGURK 7. Constant voltage regulator showing simplifed coupling effects between load devices connected to the
comparison circuit.
same power supply. It is doubtful that the ideal constant
The feedback regulating action characteristic of a voltage power supply can ever be achieved, but one can
constant voltage power supply can be demonstrated by be realized which has a zero output impedance at zero
assuming that a disturbing influence has caused a mo- frequency (DC) using the circuit shown in Figure 8.
mentary increase in the "Regulated DC" output volt- The output impedance of a regulated power supply
age of Figure 7. If we regard the negative output ter- (or any negative voltage feedback amplifier) is given by
minal as "common" or "ground", this output voltage
increase is equivalent to the positive output terminal 7 F= Z°
Z m*
(1J
° l-w3
and the summing point "S" becoming more positive.
where: ZOF = the output impedance with the feed-
The collector of Qi thus goes negative and causes a more back loop closed
positive potential to be impressed on the base of the Zo = the output impedance which would be
series regulator transistor, reducing its conduction. The
present if amplifier stages within the
output voltage then decreases back to its normal value
regulator were not activated
and the error voltage between the base of Qi and Q2 is
n = the combined voltage gain of all am-
reduced to zero. plifier stages within the regulator feed-
Since any change in the resistance value of RR or Rp back loop
will cause a change in the output voltage, wire-wound /3 = the feedback factor from the output
elements having a very low temperature coefficient are terminals to the first amplifier stage.
used. These resistors are operated at a level which is t± is actually the composite of the several stages of gain
considerably less than their power rating so that their
within the feedback loop. Therefore,
surface temperature will not be significantly higher than
•For negative feedback, uft is a negative number, and the denominator of (1)
ambient and subject to thermal fluctuations. is a positive number greater than unity.
 n = ^i n2 Ma ............ , where the subscripts temperature-induced changes in the resistance of the
refer to the first, second, third stage, etc. Consequently, load. Just as loads for constant voltage power supplies
a more exact description of the output impedance of a area!ways connected in parallel (never in series), loads
power supply is for constant current power supplies must be connected
7 in series (never in parallel).
iOF =
Figure 10 illustrates the elements which go into a
constant current power supply, many of which are
Now let us assume that local positive feedback is identical to the elements found in a constant voltage
added around the first stage. The gain of this stage is power supply (Compare with Figure 3). The feedback
therefore MI' loop acts continuously to keep the two inputs to the
MI "yz—rj-
comparison amplifier equal; one of these inputs is the
voltage drop across the front panel current control,while
where: MI' is the gain of the first stage without local the other is the IR drop developed by the load current
positive feedback IL flowing through the current monitoring resistor RM.
Pi is the local positive feedback factor for the If the two inputs to the comparison amplifier are mo-
first stage. mentarily unequal, then the comparison amplifier out-
Substituting equation (3) into (2) yields a new expres- put changes the conduction of the series regulator, there-
sion for the output impedance of the power supply: by changing the load current and the voltage drop across
7
LOF =. Zo the current monitoring resistor, reducing the error volt-
: /j\ age at the comparison amplifier input to zero. Increasing
, *2 M3 P
- M, the value of the current control RQ results in a mo-
It can be seen that if 0,, the local positive feedback mentary increase in the negative value presented at the
factor for the first stage, is adjusted so that M/0, exactly upper input to the comparison amplifier until the reg-
equals unity, then the denominator of equation (4) ulator action increases the load current by a correspond-
increases without bound and the output impedance ZOF ing amount so that the error voltage is reduced to zero.
of the power supply becomes zero !
Figure 8 shows one way of adding positive feedback
to a power supply regulator to obtain zero output
impedance. Control R4 furnishes the local positive feed-
back from the collector of Qi to the base of Q2- Adjust-
ment of this control enhances the gain of this comparison
amplifier and permits the power supply to retain its
static output voltage perfectly constant in spite of a no
load to full ioad change in load current.
A7, CONSTANT CURRENT POWER* SUPPLY
The ideal constant current power supply would exhibit
AC In
an infinite output impedance (zero output admittance)
at all frequencies. Thus, as Figure 9 indicates, the ideal
constant current power supply would accommodate a
load resistance change by altering its output voltage by
just the amount necessary to insure that its output
current would remain constant.

FIGURE 10. Constant current regulated DC power supply.

At, CONSTANT VOLTAGE/CONSTANT CURRENT
(CV/CC) POWER SUPPLIES
The fact that so many elements are common to the
EOUT
block diagram of the constant voltage power supply
(Figure 3) and the block diagram of the constant current
power supply (Figure 10) suggests the possibility of
combining these two circuit principles in one supply.
Fortunately, most of the expensive, heavy power ele-
ments are common to both the constant voltage and
FIGURE 9. Idea) constant current power supply output constant current circuit configurations, and only low-
characteristic. level circuitry need be added to a constant voltage
Constant current power supplies find many applica- power supply so that it can also be used as a constant
tions in semiconductor circuitry, and are also well suited current source. Because of its unusual versatility and
for supplying fixed currents to focus coils or other mag- its fully adjustable output protection features, most
netic circuits, the current remaining constant despite H-Lab supplies employ this CV/CC circuit technique.
 changes its mode of operation and becomes a constant
ice Vultage current source; still further decreases in the value of load
resistance are accompanied by a drop in the supply out-
put voltage with no accompanying change in the output
current value. Thus, point B represents a typical con-
stant current operating point. Still further decreases in
the load resistance result in output voltage decreases
with no change in output current, until finally, writh a
short circuit across the output load terminals, IOUT = Is
and EOUT =0.
By gradually changing the load resistance from a
short circuit to an open circuit the operating locus of
Figure 12 will be traversed in the opposite direction.
Full protection against any overload condition is in-
herent in the Constant Voltage/Constant Current
design principle since no load condition can cause an
output which lies outside the operating locus of Figure
12. Whether one is primarily concerned with constant
FIGURE 11. Constant Voltage /Constant Current (CV/CC) voltage or constant current operation, the proper choice
power supply,
of Es and Ig insures optimum protection for the load
Two comparison amplifiers are included in a CV/CC device as well as full protection for the power supply
supply, one for controlling output voltage, the other for itself.
controlling output current. Since one of these amplifiers The line connecting the origin with any operating
tends to achieve zero output impedance and alters the point of the locus of Figure 12 has a slope which is pro-
output current whenever the load resistance changes, portional to the value of load resistance connected to
while the other comparison amplifier causes the output the output terminals of the supply. One can define a
impedance to be infinite and changes the output voltage "critical" or "crossover" value of load resistance
in response to any load resistance change, it is obvious
that the two comparison amplifiers cannot operate Re = T-1; adjustment of the front panel voltage and
simultaneously. For any given value of load resistance,
the power supply must act either as a constant voltage current controls permits this "crossover" resistance
source or as a constant current source—it cannot be Re to be set to any desired value from 0 to oc. If RL is
both; transfer between these two modes is accomplished greater than He, the supply is in constant voltage opera-
(automatically by suitable decoupling circuitry) at a tion, while if RL is less than RC, the supply is in constant
value of load resistance equal to the ratio of the output current operation.
voltage control setting to the output current control
setting. A9. CONSTANT VOLTAGE/CURRENT LIMITING
(CV/CL) SUPPLIES
The difference between a CV/CC power supply and a
CV/CL power supply is one of degree rather than kind.
Because a current limiting supply uses fewer stages of
gain in the current regulating loop, the regulation in the
region of current limiting operation is not as tight as in
the case of constant current operation. Thus, the current
limiting portion of the locus of Figure 13 does not come
as close to being a vertical line as the current operating
region for a CV/CC power supply (Figure 12).
Open Circuit I-ond Constant Voltage
FIGURE 12. Operating locus of a CV/CC power supply. -Operating Keeion

Figure 12 shows the output characteristic of a CV/CC

power supply. With no load attached (Ri, = co),
I OUT = 0, and EOUT = Eg, the front panel voltage
control setting. When a load resistance is applied to the
output terminals of the power supply, the output cur-
rent increases, while the output voltage remains con- Short Cu-i-uK Load
stant; point D thus represents a typical constant volt-
age operating point. Further decreases in load resistance
are accompanied by further increases in IOUT with no
FIGURE 13. Operating locus of a CV/CL power supply.
change in the output voltage until the output current
reaches Is, a value equal to the front panel current con- CV/CL supplies may employ either a fixed current
trol setting. At this point the supply automatically limit or a continuously variable limit. In either case the
change in the output current of the supply from the temperature rise associated with the heat dissipated by
point where current limiting action is first incurred to one, not two, power transistors.
the current value at short circuit is of the order of 3% The circuit of Figure 14B has the advantage of per-
to 5% of the current rating of the power supply. forming a preregulating action, with the result that
ripple and other line disturbances presented to the
A10. SERIES REGULATOR CIRCUITRY collector of QA are less than those present at terminal 1,
Up to this point, all circuits shown have included only the rectifier DC input. This is true because the base of
a single series transistor. It is obvious, however, that a transistor QB is held practically constant, differing only
single series transistor has an adequate power capability by a battery voltage from the nearly constant output
only for the smallest power supply. Using several series voltage present at terminal 2, the negative output
transistors in parallel is usually not desirable because terminal of the power supply.
(1) the number of series power transistors—probably Figure 14C illustrates an actual circuit in which three
the least reliable component in the power supply- forward conducting silicon diodes, acting as the semi-
becomes quite large even for medium output power conductor equivalent of VR tubes, are substituted for
supplies, and (2) each series transistor will be subjected the battery of Figure 14B. Resistor R§ provides the
to the entire series regulator voltage under all operating necessary path for maintaining the forward current flow
conditions. Harrison Laboratories has placed consider- through the three diodes.
able design emphasis both on reducing the power dis- Harrison Laboratories' supplies employ a large num-
sipated in series transistors and minimizing the number ber of variations on the circuit principle suggested in
of series transistors required. Figure 14C; all such combinations of power resistors,
transistors, and diodes result in increased reliability,
Series Regulator because most of the series regulator dissipation occurs
in power resistors rather than power transistors.
Crp
0
J. Regulated
-*• DC Out All. VARIABLE TRANSFORMER PREREGULATOR

p
In power supplies of moderate or high power output
q MAX = E MAX [ MAX (Worst Condition! the dissipation requirements of the series regulator cir-
cuit are more severe, and an efficient, reliable, and eco-
nomical design is not feasible without resorting to some
sort of preregulator in the rectifier path. The purpose of
such a preregulator is to allow the rectifier output to
change in coordination with the output voltage so that
only a small voltage drop is maintained across the series
regulator, and the power dissipation in the series reg-
ulator elements "is held to a small value. One of the
simplest techniques for accomplishing this is shown in
Figure 15. A variable transformer mechanically coupled
to the front panel voltage control insures that as the out-
put voltage is turned down, the AC input to the rectifier
(and therefore the rectifier output) is decreased by a
similar amount.
FIGURE 14. Series regulator circuits.
Figure 14A illustrates the simplest type of series
transistor regulator; the maximum power dissipated in
this series transistor is the product of its maximum volt-
age drop and the maximum current through it. Figure
14B illustrates the circuit principle of a two transistor
series regulator employing a shunt resistor RS around
the second series transistor. With any moderate amount
of load current the circuit of Figure 14B will tend to
maintain approximately 2 volts across transistor QA-
With a proper choice of RS the maximum power which
will be dissipated in transistor QA or QB will be approx-.
innately one-fourth the power which would be dissipated
in the simple transistor regulator shown in Figure 14A—
the excess power being dissipated in power resistor R5 FIGURE 15. Constant voltage supply with variable
transformer preregulator.
rather than in a power transistor.
Furthermore, the operation of this circuit assures that Disadvantages of this technique are that (1) remote
transistors QA and QB will not be at their conditions of programming is not feasible, and (2) under a short cir-
maximum power dissipation simultaneously; thus a heat cuit load condition, the full rectifier voltage is impressed
sink for both these transistors will have a maximum across the series regulator transistors.
A12. SCR (SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER) all times, without risk of transient drop-out and loss of
PREREGULATORS regulation due to changes in load or line. This use of an
The use of SCR preregulators allows the circuit tech- SCR preregulator with excellent transient immunity
niques already developed for low power output supplies thus results in a power supply having unusually high
to be extended readily to medium power and high efficiency and reliability, since the power which must be
power designs, without incurring the disadvantages of dissipated in the series regulator is held to a very small
variable transformer preregulators. Figure 16 shows a value.
typical regulated DC power supply utilizing an SCR The leakage inductance of the power transformer,
preregulator. although it does not appear explicitly in Figure 16, plays
Silicon Controlled Rectifiers, the semiconductor an important part in the circuit performance. It acts as
equivalent of thyratrons, are rectifiers which remain in a small filter choke effectively in series with the SCR's
a non-conductive state even when forward voltage is and slows down the inrush current after firing, thus
provided from anode to cathode until a positive trigger reducing the peak current through the SCR's and
pulse is applied to a third terminal (the gate). Then the improving their reliability. Since this inductance reduces
SCR "fires", conducting current with a very low effec- the high frequency content of the energy flow through
tive resistance; it remains conducting after the trigger the SCR's, RFI effects are suppressed; this and other
pulse has been removed until the forward anode voltage circuit measures within H-Lab's SCR preregulator
is removed or reversed. reduce RFI to a level below that found in many power
supplies using conventional rectifiers.
A13. SCR REGULATED POWER SUPPLIES
In many applications the highly regulated perform-
ance capability of a transistor power supply is not
required. For medium and high power requirements,
H-Lab's basic SCR control circuit technique permits
the design of an economical power supply having high
•ID efficiency and performance features superior to that
obtainable from magamp supplies. More specifically,
the SCR regulator power supplies using the block dia-
gram of Figure 17 achieve excellent line transient im-
munity, 50 millisecond recovery for load current changes,
and smaller size and weight; the output voltage of these
supplies is continuously variable down to zero, and con-
FIGURE 16. A CV/CC power supply with SCR preregulator. tinuously variable current limiting or constant current
operation is included on all units.
SCR's are included in two arms of the bridge rectifier
of Figure 16. By controlling the firing time of the SCR's
during each half cycle of input line frequency, the dura-
tion of conduction of the bridge rectifier is varied and
the rectifier output is controlled in accordance with the
demands which the DC output voltage and current of
the supply impose.
The function of the SCR control circuit is to compute
the firing time of the SCR trigger pulse for each half cycle
of input AC so that the combined voltage drop across
the series regulator and current monitoring resistor is
held constant in spite of changes in load current, output
voltage, and input line voltage. The final burden of
providing the precise output voltage or current regulation
rests with a series regulator controlled by voltage and
current comparison amplifiers.
The correction action of H-Lab's SCR control circuit FIGURE 17. An SCR Regulated power supply.
is much faster than that obtained with conventional Figure 17 reveals that the SCR, control circuit receives
SCR or magamp circuitry. Sudden changes in line volt- a control signal dependent upon the output of either a
age or load current result in a correction in the timing of voltage comparison amplifier or a current comparison
the next SCR trigger pulse, which can be no farther amplifier. Such supplies, therefore, have output charac-
away than one half cycle (approximately 8 milliseconds teristics and control characteristics similar to the
for a 60 cycle input). The use of large electrolytic capac- CV/CC and CV/CL power supplies discussed in Sec-
itors across the rectifier output allows only a small volt- tions A8 and A9—except that the output voltage or
age change to occur during this 8 millisecond interval. current is less tightly regulated.
Using this preregulator technique H-Lab can operate a The SCR control circuit, receiving its input from
series regulator chain with less than 2 volts across it at either the voltage or current comparison amplifier,
computes the firing time for the SCR's, varying this in a
manner which will result in a constant output in spite of
changes in line voltage and load resistance. As in the
case of H-Lab's SCR preregulator supplies, the patented
SCR control circuit (which computes the firing time by
comparing a ramp function with each half sine-wave of
AC input) is unusually fast, with almost complete cor-
rection within the first half-cycle (8.3 msec) following
a disturbance.
A14. "PIGGY-BACK" REGULATOR DESIGN
The circuit technique of Figure 3 is not suitable for a
300 volt, all-semiconductor, short-circuit proof power
supply. Shorting the output terminals would place the
rectifier voltage (more than 300 volts) across the series Mliiv VnlU|i Soura

regulator transistors. A sufficient number of high volt-

age transistors would be too costly and unreliable. Even
the preregulator circuit of Figure 16 is not suitable for a FIGURE 18. "Piggy-back" power supply.
300 volt supply, since, upon short circuit, the rectifier Thus, the series regulator of the piggy-back supply has
capacitor would discharge through the series regulator— a ± 20 volt range for accomplishing the dynamic changes
the energy stored in this capacitor being more than necessary to compensate for the variations of the lower
adequate to destroy the power transistors in the reg- power source. Short circuit protection for the series
ulator. regulator in the piggy-back supply is provided by the
H-Lab's MVR Series utilizes a novel circuit technique diode Dp which, if the output terminals are shorted,
which extends the usefulness of series regulating transis- provides a discharge path for the rectifier capacitor CM
tors rated for 30 or 40 volts to short circuit proof power of the bottom supply. Since the diode Dp prevents the
supplies rated for outputs over 300 volts. As shown in output terminals of the piggy-back supply from ever
Figure 18 the basic technique consists of placing a well- reversing polarity, the series regulator within this cir-
regulated low voltage power supply in series with a less cuit will never be called upon to withstand a voltage
well-regulated SCR supply having greater voltage strain greater than the 40 volts from its own rectifier.
capability. Notice, however, that the amplified error The fuse FI is included so that under short circuit or
signal from the voltage comparison amplifier is depend- prolonged overload conditions the path between the out-
ent upon the total output voltage—not just the output put terminals and the rectifying elements of the main
of the low voltage power supply alone. Thus, the well- voltage source will be opened, thus protecting the
regulated piggy-back supply continuously compensates rectifiers and transformer.
for any ripple, load regulation, or line regulation defi- The SCR control circuit for the bottom supply derives
ciencies of the main power source and adjusts the volt- its input control signal not from the total voltage across
age across its series regulator' so that the total output the load resistor nor even from the voltage across the
voltage remains constant despite disturbances in the terminals of the SCR supply itself. Instead, this SCR
main voltage source. control circuit monitors the voltage across the series
The rectifier supplying the series regulator of the regulator and the current monitoring resistor and main-
piggy-back supply develops approximately 40 volts. tains this voltage drop at approximately 20 volts, there-
Twenty volts is normally dropped across the series reg- by leaving approximately 20 volts across the output
ulator, 20 volts across the terminals of the upper supply. terminals of the piggy-back supply.

10
 B. O P E R A T I O N A L F E A T U R E S A N D O P T I O N S

Bl NO OVERSHOOT ON TURN-ON, TURN-OFF, OR Although Do normally is selected to have a current

AC POWER REMOVAL rating equal to or greater than the current rating of its
Extra design precautions have been taken on all power supply, large energy sources placed across the
H-Lab DC power supplies to insure that there is no output terminals with reverse polarity will result in its
transient overshoot of the output voltage when the failure, usually leaving a short circuit across the output
power supply is turned on or off or if AC power is acci- terminals until DO is replaced. Such a replacement,
dentally removed. To avoid turn-on overshoot the bias however, brings attention to the fact that reverse energy
and control circuits must come up more rapidly than the flow is being forced through the output terminals so that
rectifier voltage, whereas to avoid turn-off overshoot a remedy can be accomplished.
the bias and control circuits must remain operating in
order to restrain the conduction of the series regulator
until after the energy stored in the rectifier capacitor
has largely dissipated.
B2. PROTECTION CIRCUITS
Many different types of protection circuits are includ-
ed in H-Lab power supplies to protect the power supply
itself and/or the load device connected to the output
terminals of the supply.

a. Short Circuit Protection

All H-Lab semiconductor supplies are short-circuit proof
and can operate into any overload indefinitely without
risk of internal damage. In some supplies this short-
circuit protection results from the use of a fixed current FIGURE 19. Protection diodes.
limit circuit. In others a front panel control permits
adjustment of the current limit or constant current set- Since series regulator transistors or driver transistors
ting (See Application Manual Sections A8 and A9); should not be caused to withstand reverse voltage, diode
either of the latter methods not only provides full Ds is included in most H-Lab supplies. This diode
protection to the power supply but also permits the protects the series transistors in parallel or Auto-Parallel
adjustment of the maximum output current of the sup- operation if one supply of the parallel combination is
ply to the exact value which will result in optimum load turned on before the other. Normally, this would result
protection. in the output capacitor of the unenergized supply
becoming charged while the rectifier capacitor is un-
b. Constant Current Overvoltage Protection charged, thereby placing a reverse potential across the
In constant current operation there often arises the series regulator. However, the inclusion of DS allows the
need to protect the load device from the increase in out- rectifier capacitor of the unenergized supply to be
put voltage which normally accompanies any large charged in parallel with the output capacitor—thus no
increase in the resistance of the load. H-Lab's CV/CC reverse voltage can be placed across the series regulator.
automatic crossover circuitry is ideal for this purpose,
since it allows the user to set the voltage control to d. SCR Rectifier and Preregulator Protection
exactly the maximum permissible value for the partic- With some power supplies, opening the remote program-
ular load device connected to the supply. If the load ming path for ar extended period of time may result in
resistance should increase to the point where this volt- the necessity for additional protection circuits. Since
age ceiling is intercepted, further increases in load opening the programming path is equivalent to inserting
resistance will result in a constant output voltage and a a very large value of programming resistance between
decrease in the current through the load. the programming terminals (see Figure 23), the power
supply responds by increasing its output voltage to the
c. Reverse Voltage Protection highest voltage available from the rectifier. In the case
Most H-Lab supplies include a diode connected across of power supplies without a preregulator, this will result
the output terminals with reverse polarity. This diode, in no damage to the power supply, but the output volt-
designated as DO in Figure 19, protects the output elec- age of SCR regulated and preregulated supplies could
trolytic capacitors and the series regulator transistors rise to a value considerably higher than the maximum
from the effects of a reverse voltage applied across the output rating of the supply if the programming termi-
output terminals. For example, in series operation of two nals are accidentally opened. Consequently, all H-Lab
supplies, if the AC is removed from one supply, diode supplies containing SCR's include an internal protection
Do prevents damage to the unenergized supply which circuit which limits the maximum output voltage to a
would otherwise result from a reverse polarity voltage. level approximately 15% above its nominal rating.

11
 H-Lab power supplies using SCR regulators or SCR Annealed Copper
preregulators also include circuit elements which control AWG (B & S) Resistance @ 20°C Nominal current
WIRE SIZE milliohms/ft rating (amps)*
the turn-on characteristics ao that the SCR's will not
have to withstand large current surges when AC power 22 16.1 5
is first applied. Other elements within the SCR control 20 10.2 7
18 6.39 10
circuit limit the maximum conduction angle of the SCR's 16 4.02 13
after static operating levels have been reached. 14 . 2.53 20
RC networks or semiconductor transient suppressors 12 1.59 25
are normally included in the input power path of H-Lah 10 0.999 40
SCR regulated and preregulated supplies in order to 8 O.G28 55
protect the SCR's from line voltage transient surges or 6 0.395 80
4 0.249 105
spikes and to suppress the feedback onto the AC power 2 0.156 140
line of any spikes or high frequency energy. Three phase 0 0.0993 195
SCR supplies also include circuits which monitor all 00 0.0779 260
three phases of the AC input; protection action is ini- "SiliRle Conductor in Free Air @ 30"C with rubber or thermoplastic insulation.
tiated by these circuits if the line voltage goes above or
below acceptable limits, With remote error sensing, a feature included on
e. External Overvoltage Protection nearly all H-Lab power supplies, it is possible to connect
the feedback amplifier directly to the load terminals so
If a series regulator transistor fails, it usually becomes a that the regulator performs its function with respect to
short circuit rather than an open circuit. The output these load terminals rather than with respect to the out-
voltage can then rise to the fall rectifier value. Under put terminals of the power supply. Thus, the voltage at
these circumstances the normal current limit circuit the power supply output terminals shifts by whatever
(which utilizes the series regulating transistor) is no amount necessary to compensate for the IR drop in the
longer operative, and the load current is limited mainly load leads, thereby retaining the voltage at the load
by the load resistance. In spite of a conservative en- terminals constant.
gineering approach to the rating of power transistors,
and in spite of H-Lab's unique design techniques which
assure that series transistors operate at unusually low
voltage and power levels, the possibility of series transis-
tor failure, while small, still remains.
~S^
No matter how small this possibility, an expensive or Power i
irreplaceable load device may require positive protec- Supply aE0^O

tion against the statistics of power transistor failure. +S^f T

H-Lab's "Crowbar" overyoltage protector, which is
completely independent of the power supply, monitors
the output voltage of the supply. If the power supply
exceeds a preset voltage threshold, an SCR (Crowbar)
is triggered into the conducting state across the output FIGURE 20A. Regulated power supply with local
(normal) sensing.
terminals of the supply within 10 ^seconds. An operator
can at any time verify that this overvoltage protector
is armed and ready without actually shorting the power
supply or discontinuing power flow into the load (see
Page 29 for block diagram and further details). -Sensing Lead |—

B3. REMOTE ERROR SENSING Power *

AE *0
Supply 0
Normally, a power supply achieves its optimum load t
and line regulation, its lowest output impedance, drift, +Senaing Lead L

ripple and noise, and its fastest transient recovery

performance at the power supply output terminals. If
the load is separated from the output terminals by any
lead length, some of these performance characteristics FIGURE 20B. Regulated power supply with remote
will be degraded at the load terminals to a degree which error sensing.
doponds upon the impedance of the load leads compared
with the output impedance of the power supply. Figure 21 shows the voltage comparison amplifier
Some idea of how easily even the shortest leads can circuit details of a power supply having remote sensing
degrade the performance of a power supply at the load capability. By comparing Figure 21 with Figure 7 it can
terminals can be obtained by comparing the output be seen that the modifications to a standard design are
impedance of an H-Lab power supply (typically of the minor, since remote error sensing simply involves operat-
order of 1 milliohm or less at DC and low frequencies) ing the input comparison amplifier Qi, Q2 with reference
with the resistance of the various wire sizes listed in the to the load terminals instead of the output terminals of
following chart. the power supply.

12
 using an electrolytic of inferior quality compared with
the output capacitor normally present on Harrison
Laboratories power supplies will make it difficult to
achieve feedback stability. It is therefore recommended
in extreme remote sensing applications that the elec-
trolytic capacitor C'o be physically removed from the
power supply and placed at the load terminals as CL.
the load filter capacitor. Once this has been accom-
plished it will be possible to eliminate any residual tend-
ency toward oscillation by readjusting RQ.
B4. AUTOMATIC ERROR SENSING
Normally, a power supply cannot provide optimum
regulation at the front terminals when it is wired for
rear terminal sensing, nor can it provide optimum reg-
FIGURE 21. Effect of load leads on remote error sensing.
ulation at the rear terminals when it is wired for front
Remote sensing operation of power supplies with terminal sensing. In some cases, provision i.s made for
small and moderate output current ratings is readily strapping the sensing leads for cither front or rear ter-
accomplished for load devices separated from the power minal operation.
supply by reasonable lead lengths. With medium or However, H-Lab's small laboratory type power sup-
high current supplies feeding loads which are removed plies feature Automatic Error Sensing, whereby the
from the output terminals of the supply by a consider- supply senses at the front terminals if the load is at-
able length of wire, added precautions must be observed tached to the front terminals, and at the rear terminals if
in order to obtain satisfactory remote sensing operation. the load isattached there—with no necessity for switching
The IR drop in the negative load lead must be kept to or restrapping arrangements.
less than 1 volt; otherwise resulting shifts in bias poten- Figure 22 illustrates the simple circuit technique
tials in some models will prevent the proper operation which results in Automatic Error Sensing. The regulated
of the voltage regulator and/or current limit circuit. output of the series regulator is fed into the front termi-
There is also a practical limit to the voltage drop which nals, while the sensing is fed to the rear output, termi-
can be allowed in the positive load lead, since the volt- nals, and wire of adequate current handling capability
age drop occurring in either the positive or negative is connected between these two terminal pairs. Thus, if
current carrying lead subtracts from the available out- the load resistance is attached to the rear terminals,
put voltage of the power supply. Thus, a power supply error sensing is accomplished at those terminals. On the
which is normally rated for a maximum output of 36 other hand, if the load is attached to the front terminals,
volts can be used to deliver up to 32 volts at the load the heavy leads which connect the front and rear output
terminals if the wire sizes chosen result in a 1 volt drop terminals become extensions of the feedback sensing
in the negative load lead and a 3 volt drop in the positive leads, and sensing is accomplished at the front terminals.
load lead at maximum output current. Thus, a significant operating convenience is obtained
Since the current flowing in the sensing leads amounts with no increase in circuit complexity or cost.
to only several milliamperes, smaller wire sizes can be
used for connecting the sensing terminals of the power
supply to the load. However, care must be taken to shield
the sensing leads, since any voltage pickup on these leads
increases output ripple and noise. A shielded pair should
be used for the sensing leads, with one end of the shield
connected to the power supply ground terminal and the
other end of the shield left unconnected.
It is common in remote sensing applications to utilize
a large fitter capacitor at the load. Figure 21 indicates,
however, that the addition of this load capacitor results
in a Pi filter (in conjunction with the output capacitor
and the inductance of the load leads). The phase shift FIGURE 22. Constant voltage regulator with automatic
associated with this filter is inside the power supply feed- error sensing.
back loop. Extreme remote sensing applications can in B5. REMOTE PROGRAMMING WITH RESISTANCE CONTROL
some cases affect the overall feedback stability of the loop Remote programming, a feature found on most H-Lah
and cause oscillation. In many cases readjusting the tran- power supplies, permits the output voltage to be con-
sient recovery control RQ will restore normal operation. trolled in direct proportion to the resistance connected
In other cases it will be necessary to eliminate Co so between the programming terminals. Using an external
that the Pi filter is reduced to an L filter. It is important resistor and/or rheostat, the output voltage can be set
for feedback stability that the load capacitor have a low- to some fixed value, or made continuously variable over
impedance at all frequencies, and considerable care must the entire output range, or made variable over womt
be exercised in selepting a suitable capacitor CL, since narrow span above and below a nominal value.

13
 Figure 23 illustrates the essential circuit aspects of preferably, shielded two-wire cable should be used, with
resistance programming of a constant voltage power the shield being connected at the power supply end to
supply. Note that this differs from the normal constant the ground terminal—the other end of the shield being
voltage circuit (Figure 7) in only one respect—the cir- left unconnected.
cuit points normally connected to the front panel control Using remote programming, several different values
have been made available on rear terminals so that an of fixed output voltage can be set up with resistors and a
external control can he substituted. The reason that the switch, so that the output voltage of the supply can be
programming coefficient of Figure 23 is a constant has switched to any pre-established value with a high degree
been explained in Section A2—the current flowing of reproducibility. Figure 24 illustrates several switch-
through Rp and RR is constant and independent of the ing schemes which can be used in conjunction with
output voltage, and the voltage across the programming resistance programming of power supplies. Suppose it is
resistor (and therefore the output voltage) is a linear desired to program a supply having a programming
function of the resistance Rp. coefficient Kp of 200 ohms/volt to any of three values—
5 volts, 10 volts, and 15 volts; the circuit of Figure 24A
is probably the most natural one which comes to mind.
However, if a break-before-make switch is used in the
configuration of Figure 24A, there will occur for a short
interval during the switching action a very high resist-
ance between the two programming terminals, and the
power supply during that interval will raise its output
voltage in response to this high resistance input.

Power Supply
Programming
FIGURE 23, Constant Voltage supply with resistance Term in >j*
programming.
Programming a power supply with a 200 ohms/volt UNRECOMMENDED CONFIGURATION

programming coefficient to an output level of 30 volts

would require an Rp of 6K. The power supply will force
through this programming resistor a 5 ma constant cur-
rent (±2%) thus resulting in 30 volts across it, and 30
volts across the power supply output terminals.
The power consumed in the programming resistor can
be readily determined by remembering that the pro-
gramming current is the inverse of the programming
RECOMMENDED [N-SEQUENCE PROGRAMMING CIRCUIT
coefficient Kp. Using the same example, a 200 ohm/volt USE MAKE-BE FORE-BREAK SWITCH
programming coefficient corresponds to 5 ma program-
ming current, and for 30 volts output (and thus 30 volts
across the programming resistor), 150 milliwatts will be
dissipated in Rp. A stable programming resistor must be
used, since a percentage change in its resistance value
will result in the same percentage change in the output
voltage of the power supply being controlled.
In order to avoid short term temperature-dependent
shifts in the resistance value (and hence the power sup-
ply output voltage) the programming resistor used
should have a temperature coefficient of 20 ppm/°C or RECOMMENDED OUT-OF-SEQUENCE PROGRAMMING CIRCUIT
USE MAKE-BBFORE-BREAK SWITCH
less and a wattage rating in excess of ten times the actual
dissipation. Thus, in the previous example, the program-
ming resistor should have a minimum power rating of FIGURE 24. Remote Programming switching circuits.
1.5 watts.
The leads connecting the programming resistor to the To eliminate this output overshoot corresponding to
power supply should be kept short and away from stray an infinite programming resistance, a make-before-break
electric fields. Any ripple which is picked up on the switch can be employed. However, this solution has the
programming leads becomes part of the command volt- disadvantage that during the short interval when the
age for the power supply regulator and is therefore swinger of the switch is contacting two switch termi-
reproduced on the output terminals; the leads to the nals, two programming resistors will momentarily be
programming resistor should therefore be twisted or, paralleled across the power supply programming termi-

14
nals, and the supply will for this short interval seek an Two distinct methods can be employed to voltage
output voltage which is lower than either theyinitial or program an H-Lab regulated DC power supply. The
the final value being programmed. This output under- first method, shown in Figure 25, requires that the
shoot increases the time required for the supply to settle external voltage be exactly equal to the desired output
to its new value. voltage. The current required from the voltage source
The switching circuit of Figure 24B, using a make- EP is at most several milliamps. Of course, this voltage
bcfore-break switch, eliminates both the overshoot and source must be free of ripple and noise and any other
the undershoot problems associated with Figure 24 A, undesired imperfections, since within the regulator
since when rotated clockwise the resistance value bandwidth the power supply will attempt to reproduce
between the two programming terminals will go directly on its output terminals the programming voltage input
from 1000 to 2000 ohms, and then from 2000 to 3000 on a one-for-one basis.
ohms. Figure 26 illustrates the method by whic*b the power
It appears at first glance that the circuit of Figure supply can be programmed using an external voltage
24B also has one drawback—namely, the output voltage with a voltage gain dependent upon the ratio of RP to
must always be switched in ascending or descending RR. Note that this method is no different from the cir-
sequence. As Figure 24C shows, however, the same volt- cuit normally used for constant voltage control of the
age divider can have its tap points returned to the output except that an external reference (the program-
switch contacts in any sequence whatever, thus permit- ming voltage source) has been substituted for the inter-
ting output voltage values to be programmed in any nal reference.
desired order without overshoot or undershoot. In most H-Lab supplies terminals have been brought
In some applications it is possible for the program- out to the rear barrier strip so that the connections
ming switching circuits to be opened accidentally, thus shown in Figure 26 can be accomplished without any
causing the output voltage to rise to some value higher internal wiring changes. In all remotely programmable
than the maximum voltage rating of the supply. With H-Lab power supplies the summing point S is made
some loads this could result in serious damage. To available, and the configuration of Figure 20 can always
protect these loads from accidental opening of the be accomplished using the external programming volt-
remote programming leads, a zener diode may be placed age source and external precision wirewound resistors
directly across the power supply programming termi- Rp and RR. (R,R should not exceed 10K.) As indicated
nals, this zener diode being selected to have a break- by the equation in Figure 26, RP can be selected so that
down voltage equal to the maximum power supply volt- the resulting voltage gain is less than or greater than
age which can be tolerated by the load. Thus, if the unity. It is possible to use the front panel control already
programming terminals open, the programming current present in the supply as the voltage gain control, RP.
will cause the zener diode to break down, and the out-
put voltage will be limited to the zener diode voltage.
Such a zener diode must be capable of dissipating a
power equal to the product of its breakdown voltage
times the programming current Ip.
B6. REMOTE PROGRAMMING WITH VOLTAGE CONTROL
Instead of controlling a power supply by means of a
programming resistance, it is possible to control the out-
put of any H-Lab remotely programmable supply with
Unregulated ..
an input voltage. Thus, the power supply becomes a low DC

frequency DC amplifier. A later section (B8) stresses

the bandwidth and speed of response aspects of this
configuration, whereas this section deals with the method
of control.

FIGURE 26. Voltage programming with variable voltage

gain.
B7. REMOTE PROGRAMMING ACCURACY
Figure 27 shows the relationship between program-
ming resistance and output voltage for a power supply
with perfect remote programming. Zero ohms across the
programming terminals results in exactly zero volts out,
and all other values of programming resistance result in
FIGURE 25. Voltage programming with unity voltage the output voltage predicted by the programming
gain. coefficient Kp.

15
 rapidly changing load resistance, the power supply must
change its output voltage rapidly. If the power supply
does not employ a preregulator, the most important
factor limiting the speed of output voltage change is the
output capacitor and load resistor.

FIGURE 27. "Ideal" remote programming characteristic.

As Figure 28 indicates, all power supplies deviate

somewhat from the ideal. The application of a short cir-
cuit across the programming terminals results in an
output voltage which is slightly different from zero
(typically between +20 millivolts and —50 millivolts).
While the linearity of the programming characteristic
is nearly perfect, the overall slope differs from the value FIGURE 29. Speed of response—programming up.
predicted by the programming coefficient by from 1% The equivalent circuit and the nature of the output
to 5% depending on the model number. At a slight extra voltage waveform when the supply is being programmed
charge, the factory will specially align any remote upward are shown in Figure 29. When the new output
programming supply so as to reduce the zero offset and is programmed, the power supply regulator circuit senses
slope errors to smaller values. Methods of accomplishing that the output is less than desired and turns on the
this alignment of the output programming characteristic series regulator to its maximum value IT., the, current
are discussed in H-Lab Tech Letter #1 and can readily limit or constant current setting. This constant current
be accomplished by the user. Ir, charges the output capacitor GO and load resistor Rr.
in parallel. The output therefore rises exponentially with
a time constant RtCo -toward a voltage level IL&L, a
value higher than the new output voltage being pro-
grammed. When this exponential rise reaches the newly
programmed voltage level, the constant voltage am-
plifier resumes it normal regulating action and holds
the output constant. Thus, the rise time can be deter-
mined using a universal time constant chart or the
formula shown in Figure 29.
If no load resistor is attached to the power supply
FIGURE 28. Practical remote programming characteristic. output terminals, then the output voltage will rise
("*
linearly at a rate of ~- when programmed upward,
Once a power supply has its programming character-
istic aligned "perfectly" in accordance with the charac- Co (E3-Ei)
teristic shown in Figure 27, this alignment will retain an -'
absolute accuracy within a tolerance found by adding
the power supply's specifications for load regulation,
line regulation, temperature coefficient, and stability—
any change in the load resistance, input line voltage,
ambient temperature, or warmup time can be expected
to cause slight variations in the output voltage of the
supply even though the value of the programming
resistance has not been altered. The capability for
remote programming accuracy therefore increases with
improvements in the four specifications mentioned, and
chopper stabilized power supplies are capable of greater
Jong-term programming accuracy than standard supplies.
FIGURE 30. Speed of response—programming down.
B8. SPEED OF REMOTE PROGRAMMING
A constant voltage regulated power supply is normal- Figure 30 shows that when the power supply is
ly called upon to change its output current rapidly in programmed down, the regulator senses that the output
response to load resistance changes. In some cases, how- voltage is higher than desired and turns off the series
ever, notably in high speed remote programming appli- transistors entirely. Since the control circuit can in no
cations and constant current applications involving way cause the series regulator transistors to conduct

16
backwards, the output capacitor can only be discharged BIO. AUTO-PARALLEL OPERATION
through the load resistor. The output voltage decays Auto-Parallel, or automatic parallel operation of
exponentially with a time constant Ri,Co, and stops power supplies permits equal current sharing by such
falling when it reaches the new output, voltage which has supplies under all load conditions, and allows complete
been demanded. control of the Auto-Parallel ensemble utilizing only the
If no load resistor is attached to the power supply out- controls of the master supply.
put terminals, the output voltage will fall slowly, the Figure 31 illustrates the circuit principle involved.
output capacitor being discharged only by small bleed The master supply operates in a completely normal
resistors and currents within the power supply. fashion and may be set up for either constant voltage or
Whether the supply is required to increase or decrease constant current operation as required. The slave sup-
its output voltage, the output capacitor tends to slow ply employs its regulator circuit to compare the voltage
the change. Many H-Lab power supplies therefore make drop across the current monitoring resistor of the master
it possible to remove a major portion of the output supply with the voltage drop across the current monitor-
capacitance simply by removing a strap on the rear ing resistor of the slave supply, and adjusts the conduc-
barrier strip. After this has been accomplished the out- tion of the series regulator in the slave supply so that
put voltage can in general be programmed ten to one these two IR drops are held equal. Therefore, with equal
hundred times more rapidly, but the regulator loop may values of current monitoring resistors in the master and
need to have its transient recovery control readjusted so slave supplies, the output current contribution will
that the supply does not oscillate under certain load always be equal regardless of the output voltage or
conditions. current requirement of the load.
Beyond a certain point, further reduction in the size
of the output capacitor Co will riot result in greater
speed of programming, since other power supply circuit
elements will eventually limit the maximum rate of
change of the output voltage. For example, Ci of Figure
23 eventually limits the speed of programming, but
reduction or elimination of this capacitor would degrade
the ripple performance. Thus, high speed programming
applications can involve special circuit considerations
which ultimately lead to a distinctly different power
supply design.
Supplies using SCR preregulator circuits cannot in
general be expected to respond as rapidly as shown in
Figures 29 and 30, since a change in output voltage must
be accompanied by a change in rectifier voltage; the
large value of the rectifier filter plus protection circuits
within the SCR. preregulator prevent the rectifier volt-
age from changing rapidly.

B9. PARALLEL OPERATION

The operation of two constant voltage power supplies FIGURE 31. Auto-parallel operation of two supplies.
in parallel is normally not feasible because of the large
circulating current which results from even the smallest Normally, only supplies having the same model num-
voltage difference which inevitably exists between the ber should be connected for Auto-Parallel operation,
two low impedance sources. However, if the two power since the two supplies must have the same voltage drop
supplies feature CV/CC or CV/CL automatic crossover across the cum nt monitoring resistor at full current
operation, then parallel operation is feasible, since the rating.
supply with the higher output voltage setting will deliver As in the case of Auto-Scries and Auto-Tracking
its constant current or current limited output, and drop operation, no internal wiring changes arc necessary. All
its output voltage until if. equals the output of the other that irf required is a screwdriver to change the strapping
supply, which will remain in constant voltage operation pattern on the terminals of the rear barrier strip, and
and only deliver that fraction of its rated output current one extra lead running from the barrier strip of each
which is necessary to fulfill the total load demand. For slave supply to another supply in the same master-slave
example, if two CV/CC power supplies each rated for system.
10 amperes were connected in parallel across a 15 amp
load with one of the supplies set for 30.0 volts and the • 11. SERIES OPERATION
other supply set for 30.1 volts, the 30.1 volt supply
would deliver 10 amperes as a constant current source, Series operation of two or more H-Lah power supplies
thus dropping its output voltage to 30.0 volts. The can be accomplished up to 300 volts off ground (See Sec-
second supply would continue to act as a constant volt- tion B14). Scries connected supplies can be operated
age source delivering 5 amps at the 30.0 volt level. with one load across both supplies or with a separate

17
load for each supply. All H-Lab semiconductor power that both these resistors have a low temperature coeffi-
supplies have reverse polarity diodes connected across cient (20 ppm/°C or better) and have a power rating at
the output terminals so that if operated in series with least 10 times their actual dissipation. Resistors Rl and
other power supplies, reverse polarity will not occur R2 should he selected so that at the normal operating
across the output terminal of any supply should the load levels the current through them will he of the order of
be short-circuited or should one power supply be turned 1 to 5 ma.
on separately from its series partners. Comparing Figure 32 with previous block diagrams
for the constant voltage power supply (e.g. Figure 3),
B12. AUTO-SERIES OPERATION one can see that there is no difference in the circuit loca-
tion of resistor R2 and the front panel voltage control
Auto-Series or automatic series operation of power normally found in H-Lab power supplies. Thus, Auto-
supplies permits equal or proportional voltage sharing Series operation can be achieved using only one external
of such supplies under all load conditions, with complete resistor (Ri) arid employing the front panel voltage
control of the Auto-Series ensemble being obtained from control on the slave supply as the element which deter-
the master supply alone. Figure 32 illustrates the circuit mines the ratio of its voltage to that of the master.
principle involved. The slave supply is connected in Mixed model numbers may be employed in Auto-
series with the positive output terminal of the master Series combination without restriction, provided that
supply, and a voltage divider (R] and R2) is placed each slave is specified as being capable of Auto-Series
across the series voltage span. One input of the com- operation. The master supply need not be an Auto-
parison amplifier of the slave supply is connected to the Series supply since the internal circuit aspects of the
junction of these two resistors while the other input is master supply in no way affect the Auto-Series principle
connected to the negative output terminal of the slave of operation. If the master supply is set up for constant
supply. Since normal feedback action of the slave supply current operation, then the master-slave combination
is such as to maintain a zero error between the two com- will act as a composite constant current source.
parison amplifier inputs, the slave supply will contribute In some applications, remote programming of the
a fraction of the total output voltage determined by the master supply is employed, thereby achieving simul-
voltage divider Rl and R2. taneous control of the output of two sources from a
single remote resistance or voltage input. When the
center tap of such an Auto-Series combination is ground-
ed, coordinated positive and negative voltages result.
This technique is commonly referred to as "rubber-
banding," and an external reference source may be
employed if desired. Any change of the internal or
external reference source (e.g. drift, ripple) will cause
an equal percentage change in the outputs of both the
master and slave supplies, This feature can be of con-
siderable use in analogue computer and other applica-
tions, where the load requires a positive and a negative
power supply and is less susceptible to an output volt-
age change occurring simultaneously in both supplies
than to a change in either supply alone.

B13. AUTO-TRACKING OPERATION

FIGUEE 32. Auto-series operation of two supplies.
Auto-Tracking or automatic tracking operation of
For example, if these two resistors are equal, the slave power supplies is similar to Auto-Scries operation except
supply will contribute half the total output voltage with that the master and slave supplies have the same output
the master supply contributing the other half. Notice polarity with respect to a common bus or ground. Figure
that the percent of the total output voltage contributed 33 shows two supplies connected in Auto-Tracking with
by each supply is independent of the magnitude of the their positive output terminals connected together as a
total voltage. When using fixed resistors Rl and R2, the R2
front panel voltage control of the slave supply will be common or ground point. A fraction ^—T~rT °^ *ne
inoperative. Turning the voltage control of the master output of the master supply is provided as one of the
supply will result in a continuous variation of the output inputs to the comparison amplifier of the slave supply,
of the series combination, with the contribution of the thus controlling the slave's output. The master supply
master's output voltage to that of the slave's voltage in an Auto-Tracking system must be the negative sup-
always remaining in the ratio of RI to R2. ply having ' the largest output voltage. Auto-Series
Since any variation in the resistance value of RI and addition of still more slaves permits the expansion of an
R2will result in a change in the voltage divider ratio and Auto-Tracking system 'to both negative and positive
hence the output of the slave supply, it is important power supplies.

18
 output terminal shorted to ground), it is desirable in
such applications to place a I/if capacitor with short
leads between the negative output terminal and ground
so that the low output ripple performance of the supply
may be restored.
Sometimes floating operation is desired not in order to
elevate the output potential of the power supply, but to
eliminate or reduce the effects of ground problems,
Figure 34 illustrates two situations in which it is not
practical to connect a power supply output terminal to
ground either with a direct short or a by-pass capacitor.
In Figure 34A, a power supply is shown feeding a
bridge circuit, one end of which must be grounded at a
point other than the power supply case. This configura-
tion arises frequently in strain gage applications. Ground-
ing either output terminal of the supply with either a
FIGURE 33. Auto-tracking operation of two supplies. short or a capacitor would have the effect of shorting
out one arm of the measurement bridge at DC and/or
Like Auto-Series operation, Auto-Tracking permits signal frequencies.
simultaneous turn-on and turn-off of power supplies in Figure 34B shows a power supply feeding a remote
the same system, thereby preventing accidental appli- load which must be grounded at a point removed from
cation or removal of main power sources without proper the power supply case. Due to unavoidable ground
bias potentials being present. potentials, connecting either output terminal of the
supply of Figure 34B to ground through a short or by-
pass capacitor will result in a circulating ground current
B14. GROUNDED AND FLOATING OPERATION which will develop an IR drop in the lead between the
load and the grounded power supply terminal. This IR
All H-Lab power supplies are floating—that is, a drop, usually having the power line frequency as its
power transformer isolates the DC power supply output fundamental component, is added in series with the
from the AC input, and neither the positive nor negative power supply output to the load, thus degrading the
output terminal (nor any point within the regulator ripple and noise presented to the load and any measuring
circuit) is connected to chassis or ground. Thus, the device connected across it.
power supply may be used as cither a positive or a All H-Lab power supplies employ Faraday shields in
negative DC source by grounding the negative or posi- the power transformer to reduce any undesired coupling
tive output terminal respectively. effects from AC line input to DC output. In some cases,
In some applications, however, it is desirable to however, stringent isolation requirements associated with
"float" the power supply {neither output terminal ground- ungrounded operation (as given in Figure 34) may neces-
ed). All H-Lab supplies can be operated at up to 300 sitate the use of a power supply employing added design
volts off ground; special factory modifications in many restrictions. Model 801C strain gage power supply, for
cases will permit operation to still higher values. One example, has been especially designed to reduce stray
limiting factor is the mica washer which on most units leakage effects, and' employs a quadruply shielded
separates the power transistors from the heat sink. transformer so that input-output capacitance is reduced
Since the output ripple of most H-Lab power supplies to less than 1 pf. Further information concerning
will increase somewhat when operated floating (neither methods of measuring these leakage components can
be obtained from the factory.

Bl 5. ADJUSTABLE TRANSIENT RECOVERY

The ability of a power supply to recover quickly from

a sudden change in load current demand in constant
voltage operation is dependent upon the shape of the
gain bandwidth curve of its feedback amplifier. It is
necessary in designing a power supply to shape this
open loop gain vs. frequency characteristic so that the
power supply will not oscillate under any load condition
—resistive, capacitive, or inductive. Part of the solution
to this design problem usually involves an RC equal-
izing network (Rq, CQ of Figure 21). In many supplies
FIGURE 34. Power supply feeding two types of grounded the resistance of this network is made variable and is
loads. adjusted at the factory so that when a resistive load is

19
suddenly applied or removed, the resulting output volt- the meter for best accuracy at any other point on the
age transient has the fastest possible recovery with no scale.
overshoot. (Section D5 gives further details on the
recommended method for switching the load and meas-
uring transient recovery characteristics.) This adjust- B17. IMPROVED STABILITY WITH CHOPPER STABILIZATION
ment of the transient recovery control achieves ample
phase margin against instability for all loads. Turning The output drift of any power supply results mainly
this control away from the critically damped setting of from changes in the reference voltage, the output
Figure 35A in one direction will cause the underdamped monitoring resistors (RP and RR of Figure 36A), and
response of Figure 35B, and if the control is turned still the input characteristics of the comparison amplifier
further in this direction the power supply may be caused f Ql and Q2). While the use of low temperature coefficient
to oscillate. Turning the transient recovery control in zener diodes, low temperature coefficient wirewound
the other direction will result in the over/damped response resistors, and a differential input amplifier make the
of Figure 35C, with a resulting increase in the transient standard H-Lab power supply remarkably free from
recovery time. output drift, some stringent applications require even
better performance. For this reason, Harrison Labora-
tories makes available a completely semiconductor
chopper stabilizing modification which can be factory
installed on a large number of catalog items. This option
A. CRITICALLY DAMPED results in a significant improvement in temperature
coefficient and stability specifications.

B. UNDERDAMPED

C. OVERDAMPEO
FIGURE 36A, A constant voltage power supply.

FIGUKE 35. Constant voltage full load to no load tran-

sient recovery characteristics.

While the factory setting of this control achieves

ample phase margin against instability for all types of
loads, this same setting may not be the one which
achieves the fastest possible transient recovery for large
phase angle loads. When using non-resistive loads, the
adjustment of this control permits achievement of
optimum transient recovery performance. In addition, FIGURE 3GB. A constant voltage power supply with
it may be desirable to readjust this control to com- chopper stabilizing modification.
pensate for the effects of transistor aging, etc.
Since in a standard supply the drift contribution of
Rp and RR is comparatively negligible, the chopper
B16. ADJUSTABLE METERS stabilizing modification adds elements to (1) improve the
performance of the reference, and (2) overcome the drift
The meters used on H-Lab supplies have an accuracy effects of transistor stages Ql and Q2.
of 2% full scale. In most supplies, an adjustable resistor As shown in Figure 3GB, the added printed wiring
in series with the meter movement is included on the board includes resistor Rx and a cascaded reference
printed wiring board. This control is adjusted at factory diode having an even lower temperature coefficient than
for the most accurate reading at the maximum rated the normally used reference diode. These two elements
output of the supply. However, the user can recalibrate provide improvements in the reference performance to
correspond with the input drift improvement brought direction of the error. This error signal is amplified by
about by the addition of the chopper amplifier. the AC amplifier, whose output signal is independent of
Normally, transistor Qi or Q2 has an emitter-to-base any small DC bias shifts. The amplified AC next passes
potential difference which changes about 2 mv/°C. The through a detector (or demodulator) which is synchro-
use of the differential amplifier configuration permits a nized with the transistor chopper (or modulator) and
first-order cancellation of this change. Even so, it can be then through a low pass filter to the base of Qi. The
anticipated that the temperature dependent change reconstructed but amplified DC error is thus presented
between the base of Qi and Q2 will be of the prder of 200 on the base of Qi, and since it is of larger magnitude
to 400 MV/°C. This change in the DO offset potential of than the DC signal which would be presented at this
the comparison amplifier results in an identical change base in a standard circuit, it overrides the small DC
in the output voltage of a standard supply. In a feedback drift inherent in the differential amplifier.
amplifier, the effect of a noise source on the output volt- Because the transistor chopper and detector operate
age can be reduced by inserting noise-free gain inside the at approximately a 1 Kc rate, the signal amplification of
feedback loop ahead of the noise source. Since drift is the chopper stabilizing amplifier is effective only over a
merely "DC noise," the effect of the emitter-base drift bandwidth from DC to somewhat less than 100 cps.
of transistors Ql and Q2 can be reduced by inserting Since frequencies above 100 cps will not pass through
between the summing point and the input of the am- the chopper amplifier circuit, it is necessary to provide
plifier an additional amount of noise-free DC gain. a parallel signal path to preserve the normal AC reg-
The potential between X and X' is the error signal ulating action so necessary for low ripple and noise, low
input to the feedback amplifier; it is the difference output impedance at mid and high frequencies, and fast
between the desired output level and the existing output transient recovery performance. Capacitor CB is there-
level. This potential will approach zero as feedback fore included so that for frequencies above 100 cps, the
equilibrium is achieved. In Figure 36B a silicon transis- signal transmission from the summing point S to the
tor chopper continuously switches between terminals base of Ql will be as good in the chopper stabilized cir-
X and X'. Thus, the input to the AC amplifier is a cuit (Figure 36B) as in the normal regulator circuit
square wave with an amplitude proportional to the (Figure 36A).
magnitude of the error, and a phase dependent upon the

21
 C. SPECIAL APPLICATION PROBLEMS

Cl. DC POWER DISTRIBUTION AND MULTIPLE LOADING is employed and each of the several load devices being
Figure 37A illustrates the most common error in using fed by the power supply must have separate pairs of
DC1 regulated power supplies. The effective source leads connected directly from the load to the power
impedance feeding each of the three loads is the output supply terminals as shown in Figure 37B.
impedance of the power supply plus the effect of any If the distribution terminals are to be located sep-
lead resistance and inductance which separates each arately from the power supply output terminals, then
load from the power supply terminals. Since nearly all remote sensing should be employed between the power
practical load devices draw from a constant voltage supply output and the remote distribution terminals by
power supply an output current which varies somewhat a separate pair of leads (Figure 37C). It will be desirable
with time, there will be a variation of the voltage drop in most cases to add a large electrolytic; capacitor across
in the leads connecting the loads of Figure 37A to the the remote distribution terminals to further minimize
power supply. mutual coupling effects at high frequencies. However,
the precautions described under Section B3 "Remote
Error Sensing" should be observed.
C2. DUAL OUTPUT USING RESISTIVE DIVIDER
;Load i>Load Often it is required to use both a positive and negative
• 12 > 13
DC power source having roughly the same voltage and
current capability. It might seem reasonable to meet
such requirements using a single regulated DC power
supply with a resistive voltage divider center-tapped to
ground. Figure 38 shows, however, that such an arrange-
PIGVKB 37 A. Incorrect method of DC power distribution. ment results in a drastic increase in the effective DC
source impedance feeding each load; assuming that the
power supply has a zero output impedance, each load
looks back into a source impedance consisting of the two
arms of the voltage divider in parallel with each other
and the other load resistance.

FIGI KE 37B. Correct method of DC power distribution

using local (normal) sensing.

FIGURE 38. Center-tapping the output of a power supply.

Thus, a change in the current requirement of either
load results not only in a change in its own DC voltage,
but also in a change of the DC voltage feeding the other
load, and extreme conditions of unbalance can develop.
FlontE 3<C. Correct method of DC power distribution
In nearly all cases, a simultaneous need for positive and
UMiig remote sensing. negative DC voltages necessitates the use of two sep-
Since the output impedance of a well-regulated power arate regulated power supplies.
supply is extremely low, frequently less than a milliohm, C3, DUTY CYCLE LOADING
any load wire common to two or more loads seriously In some applications the load current varies period-
increases the mutual coupling. This mutual coupling ically from a minimum to a maximum value. At first it
effect can he particularly serious in logic circuitry, might seem that a transistor regulated power supply
where improper load wiring may result in large spikes having a current rating in excess of the average load
being developed across the impedance of the load leads, requirement (but less than the peak load value) would
with such spikes causing false triggering of other logic be adequate for such applications. However, it must be
circuits fed from the same power supply leads. remembered that the current limit or constant current
To achieve proper DC power distribution without circuit within a semiconductor power supply limits the
mutual coupling effects, one must first decide where the output current on an instantaneous, not an average
distribution terminals of the power system will be basis, since such protection circuits must be extremely
located. If the output terminals of the power supply are fast in order to provide adequate safeguard against
to be used as the distribution point, then local sensing burn-out of the series regulating elements.

22
 As for the second category, if it is desired to meet a
duty cycle requirement similar to that illustrated in
Figure 39 while retaining the full value of regulated output
voltage during peak load conditions, then a power supply
EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT must be selected which has a current rating equal to or
D U R I N G BAG
greater than the peak load requirement. However, if the
peak load condition is of relatively short duration, then
the stored energy in the power supply output capacitor
may prevent an excessive output voltage sag.
Thus for peak loads of either category (1) or (2), it is
of interest to know how much the output voltage will
drop for a peak load condition in excess of the power supply
current rating, and how long it will take for the supply
to recover to its normal output voltage following the
removal of the overload. Figure 39 illustrates the
equivalent circuit and output voltage waveform which
are characteristic of a power supply experiencing a short
term overload. When the overload condition is first
imposed, the power supply goes into the current limit
mode and is, therefore, equivalent to a constant current
lAaymptatir Level]
generator I L feeding the output capacitor* Co (already
charged to ENORM) in parallel with the lowered value of
1l N«m«J output valLfff ractomd load resistance RL PEAK- Thus the capacitor Co begins
l
i NanruJ load condition nttond
*o P«t kud condition impo-d discharging exponentially toward the final output volt-
age value which would result if the overload condition
were retained, namely II,RL PEAK- The amount of voltage
sag AV depends upon the output time constant and the
duration of the overload peak load condition; the equa-
tion for this voltage sag is given in Figure 39:. When
the peak load condition is removed, R L is restored to its
FIGURE 39. Equivalent circuit and output voltage for
normal value and the supply continues in the current
abort term overload. limiting mode, charging the output capacitor on another
The first question which must be answered when exponential curve. This time the asymptotic level
powering a DC load which would draw a large current approached by the exponential curve is IL^L NORM- How-
during some portion of its operating cycle is whether ever, this charging action stops when the voltage level
(1) the power supply need only withstand without dam- has risen back up to the normal level, and the regulator
age or automatic turn-off the low load resistance cor- changes from the current limit mode to the normal
responding to the peak load condition, or whether (2) constant voltage mode. Figure 39 also gives the equa-
the power supply must continue to deliver its full value tion for-the time required for this voltage recovery
of regulated output voltage during the peak load following the removal of the peak load condition.
interval. Thus, the equations of Figure 39 enables one to
Examples of the first category are DC motors and evaluate whether the voltage sag and recovery time
filaments for large vacuum tubes. While the starting resulting from an overload condition lie within accept-
resistance of these loads is very low compared to the able limits, thus permitting the use of a power supply
normal opening value, it is not necessary that the power having a current rating less than the peak load demand.
supply be able to deliver this peak current—it is neces- For short term overloads, a quick approximation can be
sary that the supply withstand without damage this made to determine the amount of voltage sag:
initial peak load condition and that it continue to op-
erate through the peak load interval until normal load .(Ip - IL) A T
:
conditions are established. For such loads Constant Co
Voltage/Constant Current or Constant Voltage/Cur- where:
rent Limiting supplies rated for the normal (not the A V = The voltage sag
peak) load condition are adequate and, in some cases
preferable, since the limited output current can provide ENORM
IP = = Peak load current demand.
protection for the load device during the peak load PEAK
interval. Peak load demands in excess of the current IL = The current limit or constant current
rating of the power supply will not result in damage to setting.
the power supply; the output voltage will merely drop
to a slightly lower value. Normal output voltage will be Co = The output capacitor (in farads)
restored automatically by the power supply after the AT = Duration of overload condition (in
peak or transient load condition has passed. seconds)

23
 This approximation is pessimistic since it assumes In terms of the numerical example shown in Figure
that the discharge of the output capacitor proceeds 40, it is necessary to add a resistor R D which will draw 3
linearly at the rate of -^, instead of decaying expo- (or more) amperes at the operating voltage of the power
supply. With this resistor added, the power supply out-
nentially. put current varies between 0 and 8 amperes rather than
C4. REVERSE CURRENT LOADING
between —3 and + 5 amperes. During the interval when
the load device is absorbing current, current flow follows
In some applications it is necessary for a power supply the paths indicated by the solid lines of Figure 40B,
to retain its normal regulated output voltage in the whereas when the load device delivers current, current
presence of reverse current flow during part of the flow follows the path indicated by the broken line. Since
operating cycle of an active load device connected to the the power supply is operating normally under both
power supply. Such situations can arise, for example, in conditions, the voltage across the active load device is
pulse and digital circuitry and in bias supplies for class maintained continuously at the regulated level,
C amplifiers.
Figure 40A illustrates the nature of this problem. It is C5. CONVERTING A CONSTANT VOLTAGE POWER
assumed that the active load device normally draws a SUPPLY TO CONSTANT CURRENT OUTPUT
current of 5 amperes, but that during part of its operat- Many, but not all, H-Lab power supplies are capable
ing cycle it delivers a current of 3 amperes. Since the of constant current operation. Those which are not
series transistor cannot conduct current in the reverse designed for normal operation as a constant current
direction, the reverse current furnished from the load source can readily be converted, provided the supply
device would charge the output capacitor of the power has remote programming capability.
supply, causing an increase in the output voltage with As Figure 41 indicates, it is only necessary to add a
loss of regulation and possible damage to the output single external current monitoring resistor to a remote
capacitor and other components within the power programming constant voltage power supply in order
supply. to convert it to constant current operation. (Also any
100 ohm resistor connected inside the supply from +S
to +OUT should be removed.) Because the proper
operation of H-Lab regulator circuitry requires that the
negative output and negative sensing terminals be at
nearly the same potential, the external current monitor-
ing resistor KM must be connected to the negative out-
put terminal, while the constant current load must be
L H = Normal Load Current
I. - Kevene lottt Current
connected to the positive output terminal. The front
panel control (or remote programming control) is used
to determine the voltage E across the current monitor-
ing resistor RM. Since this voltage E will be held equal to
the voltage Ep across the control resistance by feedback
E
action, a constant current IT = ^— will be caused to
KM
flow through the current monitoring resistor RM. The
FIGURE 40A. Reverse current loading—problem.
load current IL consists of the current flowing through
To correct these deficiencies and permit the normal monitoring resistor plus the programming current Ip
operation of a regulated power supply with loads of this (normally negligibly small compared to IT). Both the
type, it is only necessary to add a shunt or dummy load current through the monitoring resistor and the pro-
resistor such as RD (Figure 40B), thus shifting the zero gramming current are held constant by regulator action;
bias level with respect to the load current waveform so thus the net load current is also constant.
that the power supply is only required to deliver current.

FIGURE 41. Adapting a constant voltage supply to con-

FIGURE 40B. Reverse current loading—solution. stant current operation.

24
 Since any change in the value of the resistance RM Figure 42. As the charging action proceeds, the voltage
will result in a change in the load current, the current across the battery"mcreases'1'with the current through
monitoring resistor should have a low temperature the battery still remaining constant (Point B), When
coefficient and should be operated at less than 1/10 (or the charging action nears completion, the voltage across
even 1/100} of its power rating. This, plus the restriction the battery achieves a level corresponding to point C,
that, the total IK drop across RM and RL in series cannot and the power supply automatically transfers to con-
exceed the voltage rating of the power supply, means stant voltage operation, reducing the charging current
that RM will he selected so that its IR drop will be of the to whatever value is necessary to maintain the battery
order of 1 volt, depending upon the constant current voltage at the value Es, the front panel voltage control
value required. setting. The power supply proceeds through operating
The constant current performance of a supply con- point D to point, E, the full charge point. Notice that
nected in the method shown in Figure 41 can he predict- this final operating point has associated with it some
ed by dividing the constant voltage specification by the small value of current which will exactly offset the leak-
value of RM, and then adding on a percentage basis any age current within the battery. Thus the battery
change in the value of RM due to temperature effects. remains in its fully charged condition, with a trickle
The lowest constant current output level is limited to charge being provided until the battery is removed from
the programming current IP, typically 5 milliamps. the power supply terminals and placed into service.
More details on this method of adapting constant In some battery charging applications, the internal
voltage power supplies to constant current applications, resistance of the battery is such that its IR drop (riot the
including all design details necessary for the proper current limit setting of the power supply) limits the
selection of RM, are discussed in H-Lab Tech Letter #5, current value of the charging current. This has the effect
available free on request. of decreasing the charge rate as the battery voltage is
C6. AUTOMATIC BATTERY CHARGING
increased, but the final voltage to which the battery
charges remains the same, and automatic unatl ended
Automatic battery charging is readily accomplished battery charging is still af-complished in a fool-proof
using any H-Lab CV/CC or CV/CL power supply with fashion.
automatic crossover. For such applications, current Automatic battery discharging can also be accom-
limiting supplies differ from constant current supplies plished using H-Lab CV/CC and CV/CL power sup-
only in the accuracy of the charge rate setting; in both plies. Contact the factory for further information.
cases, the constant voltage limit can be set with sufficient
accuracy to avoid overcharging or "gassing". C7. OPERATION AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES
Operation is extremely simple; one need only short Nearly all H-Lab power supplies are rated for opera-
the output terminals of the supply and set the current tion atO°C to 50°C (32°F to 122°F) ambient tempera-
limit or constant current control to the desired charge ture without degradation of output rating or any other
rate (amperes = coulombs/second). Next, the output specifications. Care must be taken, however, when rack
terminals are left open and the voltage control is set for mounting power supplies closely together or in proximity
the final value of voltage to which it is desired to charge with other heat-producing units that the power supplies
the battery. Finally, the battery, regardless of its state are not surrounded by an actual air temperature greater
of charge, is connected directly across the output ter- than 50°C. An unventilated rack full of equipment
minals of the supply. Charging action is completely auto- may surround a power supply with an effective ambient
matic, and it is not necessary for an attendant to of 55°C or fi()°C even though the room temperature is
monitor the battery during charging or to readjust any kept at or below 40°C. In such cases, ventilation must
controls on the power supply. be provided to insure that the temperature immediately
surrounding the power supply is not in excess of oO°C.
An exact measurement of the temperature of the air
separating two adjacent instruments mounted in a rack
can be difficult if not impossible. However, devices are
available which permit easy measurement of the heat
sink temperature of a power supply while it and adjacent
pieces of equipment arc operating in the rack. Harrison
Laboratories will furnish on request, an indication of the
maximum heat sink temperature which should be allowed
on any supply, and sufficient ventilation can then be
added until the heat sink temperature is safely below
this limit.
Although rated for a maximum of 50°C ambient, most
FIGURE 42 Operating locua of a CV/CC or CV/CL H-Lab power supplies can be operated at somewhat
power supply uaed for battery charging. higher temperatures under certain circumstances. Fur-
A completely uncharged battery will in most cases ther information concerning any necessary derating can
appear as something approximating a short circuit being be furnished on request and depends on the model num-
fed by a constant current Is, the front panel current ber, the input line voltage, and the output voltage and
control setting. This is shown as operating point A in current.
 D. POWER SUPPLY SPECIFICATIONS-DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENT
Dl. CONSTANT VOLTAGE POWER SUPPLY MEASUREMENTS (2) Connect Leads to Power Supply Terminals Properly.

a. Test Setup—General Comments. Casual clip lead connections will inevitably result in
serious measurement errors—in most cases placing the
Figure 43 illustrates a setup suitable for the measure-
ment of the six most important operating specifications measurement results beyond the power supply's specifi-
cations even though the power supply is operating per-
of a constant voltage power supply—line regulation,
fectly. The load and monitoring leads must be connected
load regulation, ripple and noise, transient recovery to the power supply terminals exactly as shown in Figure
time, stability, and temperature coefficient.
44. If performance measurements are made at the front
terminals (Figure 44A) the load should be plugged into
Commit VolUfC the front of the terminal at (B) while the monitoring
device is connected to a small lead or bus wire inserted
through the hole in the neck of the binding post at (A).
If performance is being measured at the rear barrier
strip (Figure 44B), the load should be connected to the
plus and minus sensing terminals; in this way the
monitoring device sees the same performance as the
feedback amplifier within the power supply which is
sensing and correcting the output.
Ehfiul DC Voltmeter

AC
Vollmettr Front Panel
Output Terminal

FIGURE 43. Constant voltage measurement set-up

Monitor Here-
MEASURMO NECESSARY SUITAKE
•«STiUMP4T CHAKACTitlSTlCS MODE! NUMJCB

Oscilloscope Minimum bandwidth lOOKc, HP140A with

vertical sensitivity I millivolt 1400A vertical
per centimeter minimum, plug-in FIGURE 44A. Proper method of connecting monitoring
lOOMvolts per centimeter and load leads to front panel power supply terminals.
preferred, differentia) input
preferred.
Differential or Resolution—1 millivolt or HP740A
Digital DC better at voltages up to Fluke 825A
Voltmeter 300 volte Dymec 240IB R**r turner Strip
True RMS Sensitivity lOO^volte full HP3400A
Voltmeter scale. Crest factor 10:1
Meuunni
The automatic load switch shown in Figure 43 is used 1 nit rumen I
Scope, Trw RMS VTVM
to periodically interrupt the load when measuring tran- Differential or
sient recovery time. Full details of a suitable load switch 0 Digit*! Voltmeter i

and the method employing it are given later, in Section

Dl.e "Transient Recovery Time."
FIGURE 44B. Proper method of connecting monitoring
and load leads to rear panel power supply terminals.
PRECAUTIONS:
The importance of proper connection of load and
(1) Measure Performance at Front or Rear Terminal*. monitoring leads to the power supply output terminals
Before attaching the load and monitoring devices shown cannot be overemphasized, since the most common errors
in Figure 43, it is necessary to determine (in the case of associated with the measurement of power supply
power supplies having both front and rear terminals) performance result from improper connection to the
whether the supply is connected for front or rear ter- output terminals. Failure to connect the monitoring
minal sensing, since both the load and monitoring devices instrument to the proper points shown in Figures 44A
must be connected to the same pair of output terminals and 44B will result in the measurement not of the power
to which the feedback amplifier within the power supply supply characteristics, but of the power supply plus the
is connected. In the case of small laboratory supplies resistance of the leads between its output terminals and
which feature Automatic Error Sensing, performance the point of connection. Even connecting the load by
measurements can be made at either the front or rear means of clip leads to the power supply terminals and
output terminals but are normally accomplished at the then connecting the monitoring instrument by means
rear terminals. of clip leads fastened to the load clip leads can result in
a serious measurement error. Remember that the power Signals observable on the face of the CRT as, a result
supply being measured probably has an output imped- of either of these tests are indicative of shortcomings in
ance of less than 1 milliohm, and the contact resistance the measurement setup. The most likely causes of these
between clip leads and power supply terminals will in defects and proper corrective measures are discussed
most cases be considerably greater than the specified further in Section Dl .d, "Ripple and Noise."
output impedance of the power supply.
[7) Connect AC Voltmeter Properly.
(3) Us* Separate Lead* to All Measuring Instrument*. It is important that the AC voltmeter be connected as
All measurement instruments (oscilloscope, AC volt- closely as possible to the input AC terminals of the
meter, differential or digital voltmeter) must be con- power supply so that its indication will be a valid mea-
nected directly by separate pairs of leads to the monitor- surement of the power supply input, without any error
ing points indicated in Figure 44A and 44B. This is introduced by the IR drop present in the leads connect-
necessary in order to avoid the rather subtle mutual ing the power supply input to the AC line voltage source.
coupling effects which may occur between measuring
instruments unless all are returned to the low impedance (8) Use on Auto-Transformer of Adequate Current Rating.
terminals of the power supply. Twisted pairs (in some
cases shielded two-conductor cable will be necessary) If this precaution is not followed, the input AC voltage
should be used to avoid pickup on the measuring leads. presented at the power supply may be severely distorted,
and the rectifying and regulating circuits within the
power supply may be caused to operate improperly.
(4) Ute an Adequate Load Resistor. Since the largest H-Lab single phase power supply at
The resistance and wattage rating of the load resistor this writing draws a little less than 20 amperes from the
depends upon the output voltage and current of the AC input, it is recommended that a general purpose
supply; in general, a load resistor should be selected test set-up use a variable transformer having a current
which permits operation of the supply at its maximum rating of 20 or 25 amperes.
rated output voltage and current. Continuously variable
load boxes manufactured by Rex Rheostat are excellent {9} Do Not Use on AC Input Line Regulator
for this purpose and may be bought in a large variety of
resistance and wattage ratings. When measuring the Such regulators tend to increase the impedance of the AC
transient recovery time of power supplies requiring low line in a resonant fashion, and can cause malfunctioning
resistance loads, it may be necessary to use non-inductive of the power supply, particularly if the supply employs
loads so that the L/R time constant of the load will not be an SCR or switching type regulator or preregulator.
greater than the inherent recovery time of the power Moreover, since the control action of line voltage reg-
ulators tends to be accompanied by a change in the
supply, thus impeding the measured transient recovery waveshape of the AC output, their advantage in keeping
performance. the input to a power supply constant is practically nil,
since such waveshape changes are nearly as effective in
(5) Check Current Limit Control Setting. causing output voltage changes of the power supply as
When measuring the constant voltage performance the original uncorrected line voltage change.
specifications, the constant current or current limit con- Further precautions necessary to the proper measure-
trol must be set well above the maximum output cur- ment of power supply specifications are given as required
rent which the supply will draw, since the onset of in the following sections, which discuss the use of the
constant current or current limiting action can cause a constant voltage measurement setup of Figure 43 in
drop in output voltage, increased ripple, and other per- measuring the six most important power supply specifi-
formance changes not properly ascribed to the constant cations.
voltage operation of the supply.
b. CV Line Regulation.
{6} Check Setup for Pickup and Ground Loop Effects. Definition: The change, AEoui, in the static value of DC
Care must be taken that the measured performance is output voltage resulting from a change in AC input voltage
over the specified range from low line (usually 105 volts) to
not unduly influenced by the presence of pickup on the high line (usually 125 volts), or from high line to low line.
measuring leads or by power line frequency components
introduced by ground loop paths. Two quick checks Actual measurement is accomplished by turning the
should be made to see if the measurement setup is free of variable autotransformer (Figure 43) through the spec-
extraneous signals: ified range from low line to high line and noting the
change in the reading of the digital voltmeter or dif-
(a) Turn off the power supply and observe whether any ferential voltmeter connected to the output terminals
signal is observable on the face of the CRT (with the of the supply. The power supply will perform within its
scope connected between +S and —S).
line regulation specification at any rated output voltage
(b) Instead of connecting the oscilloscope leads separately combined with any rated output current; the most
to the positive and negative sensing terminals of the severe test normally involves measuring line regulation
supply, connect both leads to either the positive or the
negative sensing terminal, whichever is grounded to at maximum output voltage combined with maximum
chassis. output current.
 Notice that for practically all H-Lab power supplies Figure 45A shows an incorrect method of measuring
the line regulation specification is not prefixed by " ± ", ripple and noise. Note that a continuous ground loop
nor is the line voltage input change specified "115 volts exists from the third wire of the input power cord of the
+10%." Thus, H-Lab's line regulation specification sets power supply to the third wire of the input power cord
a limit on the total excursion of the output voltage of the oscilloscope via the grounded power supply case,
resulting from the total input AC change from low line the wire between the negative output terminal of the
to high line, thereby allowing only one-half the output power supply and the vertical input of the scope, and
deviation of a " ± " specification. the grounded scope case. Any ground current circulating
in this loop as a result of the difference in potential EG
c. CV Load Regulation between the two ground points causes an IR drop which
Definition: The change AEouT in the static value of DC is in series with the scope input. This IR drop, normally
output voltage resulting from a change in load resistance having a 60 cycle line frequency fundamental, plus any
from open circuit to a value which yields maximum rated
output current (or vice versa). pickup on the untwisted or unshielded leads intercon-
necting the power supply and scope appears on the face
Load regulation is measured by throwing the switch S of the CRT. The magnitude of this resulting noise signal
in Figure 43 and noting the resulting static change can easily be much greater than the true ripple develop-
AEouT in the output voltage on the digital voltmeter ed between the plus and minus output terminals of the
or differential voltmeter connected to the output term- power supply, and can completely invalidate the
inals. The power supply will perform within its load measurement.
regulation specification at any rated output voltage The same ground current and pickup problems can
combined with any rated input line voltage. exist if an RMS voltmeter is substituted in place of the
oscilloscope in Figure 45A. However, the oscilloscope
d. CV Ripple and Noise display, unlike the true RMS meter reading, tells the
Definition: The residual AC voltage which is superimposed observer immediately whether the fundamental period of
on the DC output of a regulated power supply, usually
specified and measured in terms of its RMS value. the signal displayed is 8.3 milliseconds (1/120 cps) or
16.7 milliseconds (1/60 cps). Since the fundamental
Ripple and noise measurement of an H-I^ab constant ripple frequency present on the output of an H-Lab
voltage regulated DC power supply can be made at any supply is 120 cps (due to full-wave rectification), an
input AC line voltage combined with any DC output oscilloscope display showing a 120 cps fundamental
and load current within rating. component is indicative of a "clean"measurement setup,
while the presence of a 60 cps fundamental usually
Power Supply C*» means that an improved setup will result in a more
accurate (and lower) value of measured ripple.
Figure 45B shows a correct method of measuring the
output ripple of a constant voltage power supply using
a single-ended scope. The ground loop path is broken
with a 3 to 2 adapter in series with the power supply's
A. Incorrect method—Ground current Is produces 60
AC line plug. Notice, however, that the power supply
cycle drop in negative lead which adds to the power case is still connected to ground via the power supply
supply ripple displayed on scope. output terminals, the leads connecting these terminals
to the scope terminals, the scope case and the third wire
of the power supply cord.
Either a twisted pair or (preferably) a shielded two-
wire cable should be used to connect the output term-
Adipler lo inals of the power supply to the vertical input terminals
Break fiND P.th
of the scope. When using a twisted pair, care must be
taken that one of the two wires is connected both to the
B. A correct method using a single-ended scope. 3-to-2 grounded terminal of the power supply and the ground-
adapter breaks ground current loop, twisted pair
reduces stray pickup on acope leads. ed input terminal of the oscilloscope. When using
shielded two-wire, it is essential for the shield to be con-
QnUkacope due
nected to ground at one end only so that no ground cur-
rent will flow through this shield, thus inducing a noise
signal in the shielded leads.
In most cases, the single-ended scope method of
Figure 45B will be adequate to eliminate non-real com-
ponents of ripple and noise so that a satisfactory meas-
C. A correct method using a differential scope with urement may be obtained. However, in more stubborn
floating input Ground current path is broken; common
mode rejection of differential input acope ignores differ- cases, or in measurement situations where it is essential
ence in ground potential of power supply & scope, shielded that both the power supply case and the oscilloscope
two wire further reduces stray pick-up on scope lead. case be connected to ground (e.g. if both are rack-
FIGURE 45. Measurement of ripple and noise output mounted), it may be necessary to use a differential scope
of a CV power supply. with floating input as shown in Figure 45C. Because of

28
its common mode rejection, such an oscilloscope displays e. Transient Recovery Time
only the difference in signal between its two vertical Definition: The time X for output voltage recovery to with-
input terminals, thus ignoring the effects of any com- in Y millivolts of the nominal output voltage following a Z
amp step change in load current—where:
mon mode signal introduced because of the difference in Y is specified separately for each model but is generally of
the AC potential between the power supply case and the same order as the load regulation specification.
scope case. Before using a differential input scope in this The nominal output voltage is defined as the DC level half
manner, however, it is imperative that the common way between the static output voltage before and after the
mode rejection capability of the scope-be verified by imposed load change, and
shorting together its two input leads at the power supply Z is the specified load current change, normally equal to the
full load current rating of the supply.
and observing the trace on the CRT. If this trace is a
straight line, the scope is properly ignoring any common Transient recovery time may be measured at any
mode signal present. If this trace is not a straight line, input line voltage combined with any output voltage
then the scope is not rejecting the ground signal and and load current within rating.
must be realigned in accordance with the manufacturer's If a step change in load current is imposed on the out-
instructions until proper common mode rejection is put of a power supply, the output voltage will exhibit a
attained. transient of the type shown in Figure 47. The output
In many cases a proper measurement setup will reveal impedance of any power supply eventually rises at high
that the peak-to-peak ripple on the output of an H-Lab frequencies, giving rise to an equivalent output induct-
power supply will be less than the RMS value specified. ance; if the load current is switched rapidly enough so
Since the RMS value of any waveform is less than its that the high frequencies associated with the leading
peak-to-peak value, such a measurement result imme- edge of the step change can react with this effective
diately proves that the power supply is meeting its output inductance, there will occur on the output term-
ripple specification and eliminates any need for an inals of any power supply a spike of amplitude L di/dt,
RMS measurement. where L is the effective output inductance of the supply
at high frequencies, and di/dt is the rise time of the load
current change imposed. For most H-Lab power sup-
plies of moderate or high output rating, L is of the order
of 0.16 microhenries (1 ohm at 1 megacycle), whereas
for small power supplies, the output inductance may be
as high as 0.3 microhenries.
A. Sine wave EP_P = 2 "N/2 ERMS = 2.828

B. Sawtooth wave • EP.P = 2 V^ERMB = 3.464 ERM8

C. Square wave EP.P = 2 ERMS

FIGURE 47. Transient recovery of a constant voltage
FIGURE 46. Three possible ripple wave shapes, power supply.
Figure 46 shows the relationship between the peak- Thus, it is not possible to specify the amplitude of an
to-peak and RMS values of three common waveforms. output voltage spike caused by a load current change
The output ripple of a DC power supply usually does not unless the rise time of the load change is first established.
approximate the sine wave of Figure 46A ; in many cases A power supply with an effective output inductance of
the output ripple has a waveshape which very closely 0.16 microhenries will exhibit a load transient spike of
approximates the sawtooth of Figure 46B. In this case, about 0.16 volts if the load is switched with a rise time
the RMS ripple is • of the peak-to-peak value of 1 amp/Msec, but the spike amplitude will be only 160
fiV if the load is switched at 1 amp/millisecond. In this
displayed on the oscilloscope. The square wave is latter case the output spike would not be evident, since
included in Figure 46 because this waveshape has the it would be small compared to the static change in out-
highest possible ratio of RMS to peak-to-peak. Thus, put voltage associated with the full load change.
the RMS ripple and noise present on the output terminals While an oscilloscope with a bandwidth of the order
of a power supply cannot be greater than 14 the peak-to- of 100 Kc is adequate to observe and measure the tran-
peak value measured on the oscilloscope. In most cases the sient recovery time of a power supply, the spike amplitude
ripple waveshape present on the output terminals of for load switching times of less than 1 microsecond can-
H-Lab power supplies is such that the RMS value is not be accurately determined, unless a very wide band
between 1A and K of the peak-to-peak value. scope is used.
 Of all power -supply specifications, transient recovery repetition rate of load switching and makes the clear
time is subject to the widest variation in definition, and display of the transient recovery characteristic on ;m
is not defined at all by some power supply manufac- oscilloscope more difficult.
turers. It is important to notice that a simple statement The scope is set up for internal sync and the presenta-
that a power supply has a transient recovery time of tion is locked on either the positive or the negative load
'''50 microseconds" is incomplete and conveys no in- transient spike. The vertical input of the oscilloscope
formation. Such a specification leaves to the imagination should he set for AC coupling so that small DC level
whether the power supply will recover during the 50 changes in the output voltage of the power supply will
^second interval to within 37% (1/e) of its initial value, not cause the display to shift. The sweep rate is first set
or to within 10%, or "all the way." A definition based so that several full cycles of no load to full load and full
on 37% or 1/e recovery is not useful since the transient load to no load operation are displayed. The vertical
recovery waveshape, being dependent upon the nature centering control on the scope is adjusted so that the
of a closed feedback loop, is in general not exponential. tail ends of the no load and full load waveforms are
Nor is a definition based on 90% decay of the transient symmetrically displaced about the horizontal center line
useful,since as mentioned previously, the amplitude of of the oscilloscope. This center line thus represents the
the transient varies with the rise time of the load cur- nominal output voltage defined in the specification. The
rent change imposed. Finally, one cannot define recovery horizontal positioning control is set so that the trace is
"all the way" since no transient ever completely dies known to start at the point which is coincident with a
away, and the time measured would be dependent upon major graticule division; this point is then representa-
the setting of the oscilloscope vertical gain control. tive of time zero. The sweep rate is increased so that a
Since the falling portion of the transient remains single transient spike can be examined in detail. The
reasonably constant in spite of wide variations in the sync controls are adjusted separately for the positive
spike amplitude and the speed of the load change and negative going transients so that not only the
causing it, Harrison Laboratories has chosen to define recovery waveshape but also as much as possible of the
transient recovery time in terms of recovery to a certain . rise time of the transient is displayed. Starting from the
voltage level. For ease in oscilloscope measurement, this major graticule division representative of zero time,
voltage level is referenced to a nominal output voltage count to the right Y microseconds (obtained from the
half way between no load and full load. specification sheet for the power supply being measured);
Reasonable care must be taken in switching the load starting from the horizontal center line, count vertically
resistance on and off. A hand-operated switch in series X millivolts (again' obtained from the specification
with the load is not adequate, since the resulting one- sheet). The intersection of the Y ^sec and X mv line on
shot displays are difficult to observe on most, oscilloscopes, the graticule corresponds to che specification points
and the arc energy occuring during switching action shown with large arrows in Figure 47; the transient
completely masks the display with a noise burst. Tran- recovery waveform must lie inside this point.
sistor load switching devices are expensive if reasonably
rapid load current changes are to be achieved. f. CV Stability
Definition: The change in output voltage for the first eight
hours following a 30 minute warm-up period. During the
interval of measurement all parameters, such as load resist-
ance, ambient temperature, and input line voltage are held
constant.
This measurement is made by monitoring the output of
the power supply on a differential voltmeter or digital
voltmeter over the stated measurement interval; a strip
chart recorder can be used to provide a permanent
record. A thermometer should be placed near the supply
to verify that the ambient temperature remains constant
FIGURE 48. Automatic load switch for measuring tran- during the period of measurement. The supply should
sient recovery time.
be put in a location immune from stray air currents
Harrison Laboratories employs a mercury-wetted (open doors or windows, air conditioning vents); if pos-
relay, using the load switching circuit of Figure 48. When sible, the supply should be placed in an oven which is
this load switch is connected to a CO cycle AC input, the held at a constant temperature. Care must be taken
mercury wetted relay will open and close (50 times per that the measuring instrument has a stability over the
second. Adjustment of the 25K control permits adjust- eight hour interval which is at least, an order of magni-
ment of the duty cycle of the load current switching and tude better than the stability specification of the power
reduction in jitter of the oscilloscope display. supply being measured. Typically, a supply may drift
The maximum load ratings listed in Figure 48 must less over the eight hour measurement interval than
be observed in order to preserve the mercury-wetted during the l/z hour warm-up period.
relay contacts. Switching of larger load currents can be Stability measurements can be made while the supply
accomplished with mercury pool relays; with this tech- is remotely programmed with a fixed wire-wound resis-
nique fast rise times can still be obtained, but the large tor, thus avoiding accidental changes in the front panel
inertia of mercury pool relays limits the maximum setting due to mechanical vibration or "knob-twiddling"

30
g. CV Temperature Coefficient
Definition: The change in output voltage per degree Centi-
grade change in the ambient temperature under conditions
of constant input AC line voltage, output voltage setting,
and load resistance.
The temperature coefficient of a power supply is meas-
ured by placing the power supply in an oven and varying
it over any temperature span within its rating. (Most
H-Lab power supplies are rated for operation from 0°C
to 50°C.) The power supply must be allowed to thermal- Diffcmntii]
ly stabilize for a sufficient period of time at each tem- UC Voltmctc

perature of measurement.
The temperature coefficient specified is the maximum
FIGURE 49. Constant current measurement setup
temperature-dependent output voltage change which
will result over any 5°C interval. The differential volt- Many of the precautions listed in Section Dl with
meter or digital voltmeter used to measure the output reference to a constant voltage measurement setup are
voltage change of the supply should be placed outside equally applicable to a constant current setup. However,
the oven and should have a long term stability adequate a list is provided below of other precautions peculiar to a
to insure that its drift will not affect the overall meas- constant measurement setup. Many of these precautions
urement accuracy. concern the series monitoring resistor; since all constant
current performance specs will be checked by measuring
the voltage drop across Ri, particular care must he given
h. Other Constant Voltage Specifications to the proper selection and connection of this element.
The output impedance of a power supply is normally not
measured, since the measurement of transient recovery
time reveals both the static and dynamic output charac- PRECAUTIONS:
teristics with just one measurement. The output imped- (1) RI Mud b« Treated as a Four-Terminal Device.
ance of a power supply is commonly measured only in In the manner of a meter shunt, the load current must
those cases where the exact value at a particular fre- be fed from the extremes of the wire leading to this
quency is of engineering importance. Complete informa- resistor, while the voltage monitoring terminals con-
tion on proper methods of measuring output impedance nected to the three measuring instruments should be
is available from your nearest H-Lab/HP sales office— located as close as possible to the resistance portion
ask for H-Lab Tech Letter 4, "Measurement of Output itself, as shown in Figure 50.
Impedance of a Constant Voltage Power Supply."
Proper methods of measuring any of the other operat-
ing specifications for constant voltage power supplies Load
can also be obtained by contacting your local H-Lab/HP Current

sales office or the factory. IZZ

D2. CONSTANT CURRENT POWER SUPPLY MEASUREMENTS

a. Test Setup—General Comments

t Voltage

Terminals
1

For the most part the instruments, methods, and pre-

cautions necessary for the proper measurement of con- FIGURE 50. Four terminal nature of current monitoring
stant current power supply characteristics are identical resistor.
to those already described for the measurement of con-
stant voltage power supplies. As Figure 49 shows, there
are only two major differences which distinguish the (2) Use Precision, Low T.C, Monitoring Resistor.
constant current measurement setup from the constant Resistor Ri should be a precision ammeter shunt or a
voltage measurement setup. wire wound resistor (20ppm/°C or better) and should be
operated at a power less than 1/10 (preferably 1/100) of
1. The load switch is connected in parallel rather than in its rating so that its surface temperature will not be high
series with the power supply load, since the power supply compared with ambient and therefore subject to slow
performance will be checked between short circuit and
full load rather than open circuit and full load. thermal fluctuations which cause similar changes in the
resistance value itself.
2. A current monitoring resistor is inserted between the
output of the power supply and the load. To simplify A crude "thumb rule" will suggest the order of mag-
grounding problems, one end of this monitoring resistor nitude of the measurement problems which can be
should be connected to the same output terminal of the encountered if adequate power derating is not applied
power supply which will be shorted to ground. All con- to the current monitoring resistor. With typical wire-
stant current measurements are made in terms of the
change in voltage across this resistor; the current per- wound power resistors, operation at 10% of power rating
formance is calculated by dividing these voltage changes will be accompanied by approximately a SOT tempera-
by the ohmic value of Ri. ture rise above ambient at the surface of the resistor; the

31
"bobble," or slow variation in this surface temperature, Other precautions associated with the proper meas-
will amount to about 20% of the rise above ambient— urement of constant current power supply specifications
in this case a "bobble" of about 10°C (peak-to-peak). are given in the following sections as required; these sec-
Using a 20 ppm resistor, this 10°C variation will cause tions discuss the use of the constant current measure-
roughly a .02% variation in the measured current, even ment setup of Figure 49 for measuring the most impor-
though the monitoring resistor is being operated at only tant constant current power supply specifications.
1/10 of its power rating!
(3) K«*p T«mp*ratur* of Ri Constant.
b. CC Line Regulation
Definition: The change, AIouT in the static value of DC
The resistor RI should be located and protected so that output current resulting from a. change in AC input voltage
it will not be subjected to stray air currents (open doors over the specified range from low line (usually 105 volts)
or windows, air conditioning vents), since these will to high line (usually 125 volts), or from high line to low line.
introduce a change in resistance value which may mar Measurement is accomplished by turning the variable
the measurements, particularly stability and tempera- autotransf ormer of Figure 49 through the specified input
ture coefficient. voltage range and noting the change in the reading on a
(4) Ch*ck Voltog* Control S«tting. digital voltmeter or differential voltmeter connected
When measuring the constant current performance across the current monitoring resistor; this change,
specifications, the power supply's voltage control must when divided by the value of the current monitoring
be set above the maximum output voltage which the resistor,yields the change in output current. The power
supply will deliver since voltage limiting action will supply will perform within its line regulation specifica-
cause a drop in output current, increased ripple current, tion at any rated output current combined with any
and other performance changes not properly ascribed to rated output voltage.
the constant current operation of the supply. c. CC Load Regulation
(5) Do Not Connect DC VoHmatw Dirvctly Across Poww Definition: The change, Alour in the static value of the
Supply Output Terminals. DC output current resulting from a change in load resist-
ance from short circuit to a value which yields maximum
Note that in Figure 49 the DC voltmeter used to mon- rated output voltage.
itor the output of the power supply is connected outside
the current monitoring resistor. Thus, the true output Load regulation is measured by throwing the switch
voltage of the supply is obtained by adding this volt- S in Figure 49 and noting the resulting static change on
meter reading to the voltage across the current mon- the digital voltmeter or differential voltmeter connected
itoring resistor. If the voltmeter were placed on the left across the current monitoring resistor. The power supply
side of the current monitoring resistor of Figure 49, a will perform within its load regulation specifications at
change in output voltage of the constant current supply any rated output current combined with any rated line
would result in a change in current through the volt- voltage.
meter input resistance. As can be seen from Figure 51,
if we assume a power supply with a perfectly constant d. CC Ripple and Noise
Definition: The residual AC current which is superimposed
current output, this change in current through the in- on the DC output current of a regulated supply, usually
correctly connected voltmeter will necessarily be specified and measured in terms of its RMS value.
accompanied by an equal magnitude change in current
through the load and the current monitoring resistor, The peak-to-peak voltage measured on the oscillo-
thus degrading the measured constant current perform- scope across R: is divided by RI to obtain the peak-to-
ance. Of course, if a sufficiently high resistance DC peak ripple current. This value is then divided by a
voltmeter is used, this precaution need not be observed, suitable conversion factor to obtain RMS ripple. In
since the voltmeter input current will be small compared cases where the oscilloscope measurement yields a mar-
to the current change being measured. ginal result, resort should be made to a true RMS volt-
meter reading across RI after first utilizing the oscillo-
scope to insure that the input waveform to the RMS
voltmeter has a 120 cycle fundamental component and
is free of extraneous signals not coming from the power
supply output.
Most of the comments pertaining to the ground loop
and pick-up problems associated with constant voltage
ripple and noise measurement also apply to the meas-
urement of constant current ripple and noise. Figure 52
illustrates the most important precautions to be observed
when measuring the ripple of a constant current supply.
The presence of a 120 cycle waveform on the oscilloscope
is normally indicative of a correct measurement method.
A waveshape having 60 cycles as its fundamental compo-
FIGURE 51. Measurement error due to voltmeter across nent is typically associated with an incorrect measure-
output terminals of constant current power supply. ment setup. As before, the basic measuring instrument
 as well as the section dealing with the measurement of
OncillaBcnpg Ca
constant voltage ripple and noise, apply in full.
e. CC Stability
Definition: The change in output current for the first 8
hours following a 30 minute warm-up period. During the
interval of measurement all parameters such as load resist-
A. Incorrect method—Ground current Is produces 60 ance, ambient temperature, and input line voltage are held
cycle drop in negative lead which adda to the power constant.
supply ripple displayed on scope.
The stability of a power supply in constant current
operation must be measured while holding the tempera-
ture of the power supply and the current monitoring
resistor RI as constant as possible. Variations of the volt-
age across this current monitoring resistor over the
specified 8-hour interval arc measured on the digital or
differential voltmeter and may be recorded on a strip
•Length of lead between RI and grounded output terminal of chart recorder. Since such voltage measurements are
power supply must beheld to absolute minimum. generally being made at a rather low level, it is impor-
B. A correct method using a single-ended scope. 3-to-2 tant to check that the stability of the measuring instru-
adapter breaks ground current loop, twisted pair ments is adequate to insure an accurate check on the
reduces stray pickup on scope leads. power supply performance.
r Supply Ca
f. CC Temperature Coefficient
AC_T>
ACC^ )= i 3
H5
Definition: The change in output current per degree Centi-
GND—LJ—-I LJ
grade change in the ambient temperature under conditions
I-J of constant input AC line voltage, output current setting,
and load resistance.
The constant current power supply must be placed in an
'Length of lead between RI and grounded output terminal of
power supply must be held to absolute minimum. oven and operated over any temperature span within
the power supply rating. The current monitoring resistor
C. A correct method using a differential scope with
floating input. Ground current path is broken; common RI should not be placed in the oven, but must be held at
mode rejection of differential input scope ignores differ- a constant temperature while this measurement is made.
ence in ground potential of power supply & scope, shielded
two wire further reduces stray pick-up on scope lead.
g. Other Constant Current Specifications
FIGURE 52. Measurement of ripple and noise output The measurement of transient recovery time, output
of a CC power supply. impedance, and other performance specifications is less
often required in the case of constant current power
is an oscilloscope. The peak-to-peak/RMS conversion supplies. Complete information on proper methods of
factors suggested by Figure 46, and comments in the measuring any other constant current specifications
previous sections of this Application Manual dealing beyond those listed above can be obtained from the
with constant voltage pick-up and ground loop effects, factory.

H-LAB TECH LETTERS

The following publications contain more detailed information on selected power supply topics.

Tech. Letter No. 1. Remote Programming

Tech. Letter No. 2. Constant Voltage/Constant Current Regulated Power Supplies
Tech. Letter No. 3. Measurement of Line and Load Regulation of DC Power Supplies
Tech. Letter No. 4. Measurement of Output Impedance of a Constant Voltage Power Supply
Tech. Letter No. 5. Method of Achieving Constant Current Operation Utilizing a Constant Voltage Power Supply
Tech. Letter No. 6. Measurement of Transient Recovery Time of Constant Voltage Regulated DC Power Supplies

Copies of any of the above Tech Letters are available at no charge either from your local
H-Lab/HP sales office* or by writing directly to the factory. Feel free to contact either the
factory or your nearest sales office with regard to any power supply questions.
*See page (14.

33
POWER SUPPLY LISTING

SPECIAL FEATURES

105-125 Front and rear output Ferminali, half rode width

0-7.5 0-3 •2UA 5 nw 3 mv 0.2 50" C 50 or 48-440 V/A V V V It 8,1 89 H x33Q D x 2 1 0 W V V
padcage. Variable voltage and current limit.
$ 189.00
210-250
3 mv 3 mv 105-125 Plug-in module — all input, output, and contra'
0-18 0-0.3 ttttA or or 1.0 50° C 50 or 48440 NO V V R 1.4 63Hx203Dx74W V connections via 11-pin plug. Variable current limit.
130.00
0.03V. 0.03 V. 210-250
110/115/ Dual range output selected by front panel push
0-18 0-0.6 (HIA 10 mv 10 mv 0.1 55° C 50 220/230 50 V&A V V V R 4,5 155 H x 2 7 8 D it 130 W V buttons, Variable current limit. Third modular ca- 145.00
+ 10 V. binet. Other range—0—36 V, 0—3.3 A
4 mv 4 mv 105-125 Front and rear output terminals, half rack widH*
UMA NO package, dual range output selected by front pane 134.00
OMAM VIA push buttons. Other range—0-36 V, 0-0.3 A. Vari- 154.00
0.01 V. D.01 % 210-250 able current limit.
3 mv 3 mv 105-125 Plug-in module — all input, output, and control
0-18 0-1 4M4A or or 1.0 50°C 50 or 48-63 NO V V ft 3.2 76 H x 228 D * 127 W V
connections via 11-pin plug. Variable current limit.
175.00
0.03 •/. 0.03 '/• 210-250
3 mv 3 mv 105-125 Plug-in module — all input, output, and control
0-18 0-2.5 O4SA or or 1.0 50° C 50 or 48-63 NO V V R 5,9 1 27 H x 228 0 x 1 5 9 W V 235.00
connections via 11-pin plug. Variable current limit.
0.03 '/• 0.03 V. 210-250
2 mv 2 mv 105-125 Front and rear output terminals, one-third rack
0-1 B 0-3 (224A or or 0.5 50° C 50 or 50-70 V/A V V V R 6,8 171 H x 2 7 9 0 x 1 3 0 W V V 340.00
width package. Variable voltage and current limit.
0.03% 0.02% 210-250
0.01 V. 0.01 •/. 50 no/us/
0-18 0-10 «9HA 0.5 50° C 220/230 50 V&A V V V V I* 89 H x 474 0 « 483 W V V Variable voltage and current limit. 445.00
or 1 mv or 1 mv i5A ± 10 V.
1 mv 1 mv 105-125 Well-regulated "stripped-down" version of Model
0-18 0-10 ««A or or 0.5 50°C 50 or 50-60 NO V V V 15,3 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V 369.00
6964 A.
0.01 % 0.01 % 210-260
1 mv 1 mv 105-125
0-18 0-20 «*4At or or 1.0 50° C 50 or 50-60 ViA V V V 24,3 133 H x 476 D * 483 W V V Variable voltage and current limit. 535.00
0.01 % 0.01 V. 210-250
1 mv 1 mv 105-125 Well-regulated, "stripped-down" version of Model
0-18 0-20 «3MA or or 1.0 50° C 50 or 50-60 NO V V V 23,4 133 Hx 4 7 6 0 x 4 8 3 W V 460.00
6264 A.
0.01 V. 0.01 V. 210-250
0.015<A 0.025V. HO/115/ Dual range output selected by front panel push
0-20 0-1.5 mi A ±2.5mv ±250,<v
0.2 50°C 50 220/230 50 V&A V V V R a B9 Hx 3500*210 W V V
buttons. Variable voltage and current limit.
199.00
± 10 V.
0.015% 0.02SV* no/us/ Front and rear output terminals, half rack width
0-20 0-1.5 •M2A 0.2 50° C 50 220/230 50 V/A V V V R 8 89Hx350Dx210W V V 169.00
±2.5mv ±250«v package. Variable voltage and current limit.
+ 10%
30 mv ±15mv 115/230
0-30 0-0.15 721 A or or 0.15 50° C - 50-40 V/A V 1,8 172 H x 133 O x 178 W 4-potition current limit switch. 145.00
0.3V. 0.3% ± 10 V.
POWER SUPPLY LISTING

SPECIAL FEATURES

4 mv 4 mv 105-125 Front and rear output terminals, half rack width

««A NO package, dual range output selected by front panel 174.00
0-32 0-1 plus plus 0.2 50°C 50 or 48-440 V V V R 8.1 89Hx330Dx463 W V
push buttons. Other range —0-64 V, 0-0.5 A. Vari-
UUAM 0.01 •/• 0.01 % 210-250 V&A 194,00
able current limit
3 mv S mv H)5023 Plug-in printed circuit selects dual output range,
0-32 0-2 UttAt or or 0.2 50° C 50 or 50-400 V&A V V V V 11,3 89 H x 476 0 x 483 W V V other range — 0-64 V, 0-1A. Variable vollage and 435.00
0.02 •/. 0.03 •/• 210-250 current limit.
3mv 3 mv 105-125 Plug-in module — oil input, output, and control
0-36 0-0.15 UUA or or 1.0 50°C 50 or 48-440 NO V V R 1,4 63Hx203Dx76W V 130.00
0.02 •/• 0.02 V. 210-250 connections via 11-pin plug. Variable current limit.
HO/115/ Dual range output selected by front panel push
0-36 0-0.3 e«OA 10 mv 10 mv 0.1 55° C SO 220 '230 50 V&A V V V R 4,5 155 Hx 2 7 8 0 x 1 3 0 W V buttons. Variable currant limit. Third module cabi- 145.00
± 10»/i net.
4 mv 4 mv 105-125 Front and rear output terminal!, half rack width
«WA NO package, dual range output selected by front panel 134.00
0-36 04.3 plus plus 0-2 50 X 50 or 48-440 V V V R 5,4 89Hx254Dx210W V
1204AM 0.01 '/• 0.01 •/• 210-250 V&A pujh buttons. Other range — 0-18 V, 0 - 0 6 A. Vari- 154.00
able current limit.
3 mv 3 mv 105-125 Plug-in module — all input, output, and control
0-36 0-0.5 6M7A or or 1.0 50°C 50 or 48-63 NO V V R 3,2 76 H x 228 D x 127 W V
connections via 11-pin plug. Variable current limit. 175.00
0.02 •/. 0.02 •/. 210-250
3.6 mv 3.6 mv Two sides can be serieied for 0-72 V at 0-1 .5 A.
DUAL •021 or or 0.2 50°C 100 105-125 50-400 V&A V \ 12,6 89 H x 381 D x 483 W 58000
0-36 0-1.5 0.01 V. 0 0 ) •., Fixed current limit.
2mv ! mv 105-125 Front and rear output terminals, one-third rack
0-36 0-1.5 4226A or or 0.5 50°C 50 or 50-70 V/A V V V R 6,8 172 Hx 2800x130 W V V 325.00
c o: •:. 0.02 •/. 210-250 width package. Variable valtoge and current limit.
3 mv 3 mv 105-125 Plug-in module — all input, output, and control
0-36 0-1.5 U4IA or or 1.0 50°C 50 or 48-63 NO V V R 5,9 127Hx229Dxl5»W V connections via 11-pin plug. Variable current limit. 235.00
- 3 3 ; - . 0.02 •/, 210-250
5 rrv 2 mv 105-125
0-36 0-3 U44At Or or 0.5 50°C 50 Or 50-70 V4A V V V . 1U 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V V Variable voltage and current limit. 460.00
0.02 •/. 0.01 •/. 210-250
1 mv 1 mv 105-125
0-36 0-3 ««At or or 0.5 50°C 50 or 50-60 V&A V V t 16,3 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V V Variable voltage and current limit. 360.00
0.01 •/. 001 • = 210-250
1 mv 1 mv 105-125 Well-regulated, *itripped-down* version of Model
0-36 0-3 (MSA or or 0.5 50° C 50 or 50-60 NO V V t 15,3 89 H x 476 0 x 483 W V 6265A. 289.00
0.01 •/. 0,01 •/. 210-250
HO/115/
0-36 0-5 0.01 •/• 0.01 V. 0.5 50° C SO 220/230 50 V&A V V V . 13,5 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V V Variable voltage and current limit. 44500
6H5A or 1 mv or 1 mv ± 10%
1 mv 1 mv 105-125 Well-regulated, "stripped-down" version of Model
0-36 0-5 43UA or or 0.5 50°C 50 or 50-60 NO V V . 15,3 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V
6965 A. 36900
0 01 •/. 0,01 •/. 210-250
POWER SUPPLY LISTING

0.01 % 0.01 % 50
no/us/
0-36 0-10 69S6A 0.5 50" C A 5 A 220/230 50 V&A V V V V 20 133 Hx 4 7 6 0 x 4 8 3 W V V Variable voltage ond current limil. 535.00
or 1 my or 1 mv
± 10%
1 mv 1 mv 105-125 Well-regulated, "stripped-down" version of Model
0-36 0-10 «67A or or 0.5 50= C 50 or 50-60 NO V V V 23,4 133 Hx 4 2 7 0 x 4 8 3 W V
6966A.
460.00
0.01 % 0.01 % 210-250
115/230 1
0-40 0-0.5 723A 20 10 0.15 55- C - ± 10 "la 50-1000 V/A V V R 5,4 172 H x 3 0 5 D x 1 3 0 W v Variable current limit. 240.00
HO/115/
0.015V. 0.025 % Dual range output selected by front pane! push
0-40 0-0.75 6961 A 0.2 5CPC 50 220/230 50 V&A V V V R 8 8 9 H x 3 5 0 D*210 W V V 199.00
±2.5mv ±250.«v buttons. Variable voltage and current limit.
± 10 %
HO/115/
0.015% 0.025 % Front and rear output terminals, half rock width
0-40 0-0.75 6963A 0.2 50" C 50 220/230 50 V/A V V V R 8 89Hx350Dx210W V V 169.00
x2.5mv ±250/,v package. Variabfe voltage and current limit.
± 10 %
11 5tf30 Front and rear output terminals. Variable current
0-60 0-2 726AR 5 2.5 0.25 55= C 200 50-60 V&A V V V 11,3 133 Hx 305 Dx483 W
limit. 595.00
+ 10%
3 rrw 3 rnv 105-125
0-60 0-3 6271 At or or 0.5 50^ C 50 or 50-60 V&A V V V 16,2 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V V Variable voltage and current limit. 445.00
D.01 % 0.01 % 210-250
3 mv 3 mv 105-125
Well-regulated, "stripped-down" version of Model
0-60 0-3 6371 A or or 0.5 50^ C 50 or 50-60 NO V V V 15,3 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V
6271 A. 369.00
0.01 % 0.01 % 210-250
Front and rear output terminals, half rack width
4 mv 4 mv 105-125
62D6A NO package, dual range output selected by front panel 174.00
0-64 0-0.5 plus plus 0.2 50 J C 50 or 48-440 V V V R 8,1 89 Hx 3 3 0 0 x 2 1 0 W V
6206AM V&A push buttons. Other range — 0-32 V, 0-1 A. Vari-
0-01 % 0.01 V. 210-250 194.00
able current limit.
3 mv 5 mv 105-125 Plug-in printed circuit card selects dual output
0-64 0-1 «42Af or or 0.2 50" C 50 or 50-400 V&A V V V V 11,3 89 H x 476 D x 483 W V V range, other range — 0-32 V, 0-2 A. Variable vol- 435.00
0.02 % 0.03 % 210-250 tage and current limit.
2 mv 2 mv 105-125
Front and rear output terminals, half rack width
0-160 0-0.2 6207A plus Clus 0.5 50" C 50 or 50-63 V/A V V V R 8,1 89 Hx 3 3 0 0 x 3 1 0 W V V 204.00
package. Variable voltage and current limit.
0.02 % 0.02 % 210-250
711A + 1000 1000 9 292 H x 3680x187 W Two ranges on voltmeter and ammeter — 12.6 VAC
115-230 275.00
0-500 or or 1 50^C
± 10 "/„ 50-1000 V&A V V
711AR+ 0.5 % 0.5 °/o 10,8 178 Hx 3 2 4 0 x 4 8 3 W eludes AC line fuse and DC protection relay. 280.00
Klystron supply. Direct reading calibrated voltage
-350 to—800 0-0.1 0.05 % 0.05 % 1
115/230 controls. Choice of internal and external mod-
0 to— BOO 716B + 0,05 V. 0.5 SO" C - 50-60 A V V 20,3 191 H x 4 7 7 0 x 4 2 6 W 875.00
± 10% ulation. Sync output for scope. Diode protection
6.3VIADJ) 0-2.0 1 % 2 circuit.

All Supplies: Floating output (ground either side), continuously variable output, low output t Chaooer Stabilized Units also available at % 125.00 extra.
impedance at all frequencies, 3-wire input, computer-quality electrolytic!, 1 year
warranty. No turn-on, turn-off overshoot; short circuit proof, all semi-conductor
except as noted by +
Transistor Supplies; Glass-epoxy printed circuit board construction, fully automatic overload
protection — short circuit proof. Units with "R" in Rack Model Column can be rack mounted utilizing optional panels
* Time required for output voltage recovery lo within "Y" millivolts of the nominal output vol-
tage, where "Y" is the load regulation and the nominal output voltage is defined as the mean
between the no load and full load voltages.