New Industry Products

Intepro Systems Announces LXI Power Supply Test System

September 20, 2007 by Jeff Shepard

Intepro Systems recently announced its first LXI-based power supply test system, which the company claims packs all the features commercial users need into one single-bay cabinet. The I-9500LXI is a fully featured automated test system that specifically addresses the growing market for ac-dc and dc-dc power converters under 1000W, including those for cell phones, digital music and video players, and most computer accessories.

The tester comes standard with a 6-digit multimeter and 4-channel digital oscilloscope, five test loads, an 850VA ac power source and Intepro’s PowerStar 5 software – which is said to make design verification, production testing and repair of whole families of power supplies easy.

Built around Intepro’s new LXI controller, the system supports both legacy test instruments that communicate using RS-232C, IEEE-488.2 and the company’s own Micro1000 and CAN communication buses, while providing a migration path to future LXI instruments. The base system has a single 300W load and four 75W loads, an 18-input x 4-output differential multiplexer, 16 digital inputs and 16 outputs, 48 relay drivers and 10 5A power relays. Five open slots provide space for growth. The architecture can also accommodate the user’s choice of 850VA ac, 1250VA ac or 1500W dc power sources.

Test program development is simplified through the use of Version 3.0 of Intepro’s Powerstar 5 software, which is capable of using the same test set for all the members of a family of power supplies. Test parameters can be read from a user-specified database, engineering design file, or even from a marketing spreadsheet. A library of more than 150 test routines is included to reduce the time required for initial test set development, and test program set recertification, when needed, becomes a matter of changing a value in a database.

In addition, the company claims that the Powerstar 5 is capable of reducing test times by 25% compared to side-by-side dc-to-dc testing or as much as 70% compared to rack and stack methods, primarily because of its own speed, but also because its powerful operator interface makes user decisions and actions go more quickly.