DC electronic load is an electronic switch device which draws DC power and transfers, stores or supplies to the grid with its terminal input characteristics conforming to Ohm’s law. It can also be used in ATE or ATS systems, including creating simulated wave shapes to test the power supply specs and characteristics, and even monitoring the battery usage or testing the power electronic component characteristics parameters online.

Nevertheless, the actual use of DC electronic load must be in response to environmental needs, such as controlling battery charging, load simulation, system protection, etc., which require the agreed-upon loads with current or power magnitudes. Therefore, the performance of DC electronic load will also affect the parameters of battery operation, thus determining the role to be played by other safety control devices in the future.

The functions of DC electronic load are mainly to test the output of power supply and heat generation. It can test the load characteristics and heat generation of power supply to ensure the stability of circuit operation; it has programmable load, which can achieve high precision testing and adjustment; it can simulate the real current and its distribution, so that a variety of complex tests can be carried out.

What is DC electronic load?

DC electronic load is an electronic switch device which draws DC power and transfers, stores or supplies to the grid with its terminal input characteristics conforming to Ohm’s law. It can also be used in ATE or ATS systems, including creating simulated wave shapes to test the power supply specs and characteristics, and even monitoring the battery usage or testing the power electronic component characteristics parameters online. Nevertheless, the actual use of DC electronic load must be in response to environmental needs, such as controlling battery charging, load simulation, system protection, etc., which require the agreed-upon loads with current or power magnitudes. Therefore, the performance of DC electronic load will also affect the parameters of battery operation, thus determining the role to be played by other safety control devices in the future.

The role of DC electronic load:

DC electronic load is an important testing instrument used for analyzing the power and load tests of batteries, chassis, powersupplies, converters, and power systems. As part of the power system, it can not only help improve the performance of the power system, but also detect and apply the stored energy heat in the system, thus helping the operation and reliability of the power system. It can also be used to monitor system changes, judge the performance of the battery and the aging of the battery, so as to effectively evaluate the efficiency of the system.

DC electronic load has four common working modes, namely, constant current CC, constant voltage CV, constant resistance CR, and constant power CP:

• Constant current mode electronic load can maintain constant current no matter how the voltage changes, as long as the applied voltage is greater than the voltage allowed by the constant current range, the overvoltage protection mechanism of the electronic load will be triggered.
• In constant voltage mode, the load module will try to consume enough current to keep the output voltage equal to the program set value. However, when the output current reaches the current limit, the constant voltage mode will fail, and the output voltage will no longer be kept constant.
• In constant resistance mode, the resistance range can be programmed and set, and when the resistance value exceeds the range, the load will automatically adjust the input to the nearest value in the new selected range.
• In constant power mode, the electronic load will adjust the power of the device under test according to the power value programmed. DC electronic load can be widely used in electronic component life test, battery test and simulation of real working environment, so more attention should be paid to the selection of work mode during the test process.

When debugging switching power supply with DC electronic loads, the first step is to select a suitable electronic load according to the output voltage and power, otherwise the electronic load will not work properly. Before the switching power supply is powered on, it is better to reduce the current value of the electronic load and select the low power mode. Then the output of the switching power supply is configured to the constant voltage mode according to the electronic load regulations. Next, by adjusting the current value of the electronic load, the power of the load can be changed, and the voltage change can be observed by slowly increasing the current value of the electronic load.

Generally speaking, when the current is roughly to a certain value, it can not be increased any more. At this time, it is necessary to observe the main circuit current, and corresponding voltage decreases, indicating that the inductor is saturated. At this time, it is necessary to reduce the current value, otherwise the power supply may be burned out. Using DC electronic load to correctly debug switching power supply can test the output current and output voltage of switching power supply, as well as obtain their output range.

Tags：M9822B