New Industry Products

Schaffner Extends Range of Loadsaver ESS System with ELU120

November 14, 2000 by Jeff Shepard

Schaffner (Luterbach, Switzerland) has extended the range of high-current programmable electronic loads for its Loadsaver power-supply, environmental, stress-screening (ESS) system, with the addition of the ELU120, offering up to 200A per channel. Up to five of the new loads can be connected in parallel to give currents of up to 1,000A.

For power-supply manufacturers involved in burn-in/ESS, product-life testing and functional testing at high currents, Schaffner believes that their Loadsaver programmable loads offer significant benefits in terms of flexibility in testing and energy-cost savings. Loadsaver is designed to recycle up to 85 percent of power.

Schaffner's ELUs are programmable current loads, controlled directly by the Loadsaver system software. Unlike traditional resistive loads, they do not produce large amounts of heat; instead energy is transferred to a common output bus and recycling unit, which feeds it back to the three-phase ac mains. Installation costs are reduced because the need for cooling systems is eliminated.

A modular system, Loadsaver offers power ratings from 125W to 10kW. Loads can be used in parallel for higher power applications. The units are Windows-based and Schaffner claims that they are easy to set up. There is a built-in load profile editor for the definition of power/load cycles. Users are able to generate complete test programs, which can be configured to run the system as a single test station, or as an array of burn-in cells.