The official launch of the PW6001 Power Analyzer will take place on March 13. Target customers for the newest flagship power meter include researchers and developers of inverters that utilise silicon carbide (SiC) components.
The New PW6001 Power Analyzer
Compared to traditional silicon components, the key features to SiC are low loss leading to high efficiency, resistance to high temperature to minimise or even remove cooling devices, and the ability to operate at high frequencies attributed to the miniaturisation of components such as inductors.
In other words, compared to conventional devices, inverters will become smaller, more affordable, and even more efficient. Industries using SiC devices include electric vehicle manufacturers, home appliance makers such as air conditioner providers, and developers of alternative energy such as solar, wind and fuel cell batteries, the same market for the Hioki 3390 Power Analyzer.
For customers to develop high efficiency devices, they need measuring instruments with more accuracy. They also need wide-band, high-speed sampling to meet increased switching frequencies. The PW6001 will meet these customer needs.
The newly designed instrument also provides waveform analysis functionality and up to 12 measurement channels for the analysis of motors used in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). These motors are driven by batteries and controlled by an inverter to facilitate efficient operation.
In addition to voltage and current waveforms, the instrument can simultaneously display torque sensor and encoder signals. It is possible to calculate the energy conversion efficiency of this setup by measuring power between the battery and inverter on the one hand and between the inverter and the motor on the other and then comparing and analysing the results.
Apart from EVs and HEVs, there is also increasing demand for energy conversion measurement of devices such as power conditioners used in solar power installations and wireless power supply systems.
The PW6001 uses 18-bit A/D conversion, which converts analog signals to digital unlike legacy models that use 16-bit conversion. The higher resolution makes more precise measurement possible. The power analyzer's frequency band is 10 times wider than even that of the high-performance Hioki Model 3390-10.
