Power supply units

Maximum Output Current
The maximum value of the current drawn by a channel

Polarity
The sign of the output voltage with respect to the ground reference (positive, negative or floating)

Power Supply Units Grounding
CAEN Power Supply units, can be distinguished according to their connection to electrical ground. We provide three main boards architectures

• Common Ground
  Power supplies of this kind have the channel voltage reference hardwired to the chassis/crate ground
• Common Floating Return
  The Common Floating Return boards have channels sharing one common ground, which is insulated from the chassis/crate ground. This feature may help to minimize problems of ground-loops. The level of insulation from the channel return to chassis/crate ground may vary between different typologies of boards. Generally the common floating return is insulated from chassis /crate ground up to few tens of volts.
• Individual Floating Channel
  The Individual Floating Channel boards have independent channel returns insulated from chassis/crate ground from few tens up to 500 V. In this configuration each channel behave exactly like a battery: by grounding the + terminal, it’s possible to get a negative voltage and by grounding the – terminal, it’s possible to get a positive voltage (and it is also possible to mix positive and negative polarity outputs).

Ramp Up/Down
The output voltage slew rate at turning ON/OFF

Ripple
The amount of AC voltage that is superimposed on the DC output voltage (measured pp at full load from DC to 15 MHz)

SCADA
Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition; it is a purely software package that is positioned on top of hardware to which it is interfaced, in general via Programmable Logic Controllers, or other commercial hardware modules. It is not a full control system, but rather focuses on the supervisory level

Trip Time
The maximum time an overcurrent condition is allowed to last

VMAX hardware
The hardware upper limit of the output voltage, set as a safety threshold

VMAX hardware accuracy
The maximum departure between the set value and the actual value of VMAX hardware (expressed as % of FSR)

VMAX software
The maximum programmable value of the output voltage (in any case the output voltage is not allowed to exceed the VMAX limit)

VMAX software resolution
The minimum step for VMAX software programming

Voltage Monitor vs. Output Voltage Accuracy
The maximum departure of the VMON value from the actual VOUT value (expressed as % of reading + offset, from 10% to 90% of FSR)

Voltage Set vs. Voltage Monitor Accuracy
The maximum departure of the VSET value from the VMON value (expressed as % of setting + offset, from 10% to 90% of FSR)

Voltage Monitor Resolution
The minimum step for the output voltage monitoring

Voltage Set Resolution
The minimum step for the output voltage programming