04 | Keysight | IntegraVision PA2200 Series Power Analyzers - Data Sheet

Measuring power:

Power analyzer or oscilloscope?

Engineers working on electronic power conversion systems need high-

accuracy measurements to identify and characterize incremental efficiency

improvements in devices such as power inverters or converters, uninterruptible

power supplies, battery management systems, vehicle and aircraft power

systems, lighting systems/electronic ballasts and appliances. While some

of today’s power analyzers offer adequate measurement accuracy, they are

cumbersome to use and lack the ability to characterize power consumption

under dynamic conditions. Previously, engineers needed a power analyzer to

make accurate measurements and an oscilloscope to visualize repetitive and

single-shot events such as turn-on and occurrences of transients. Eliminating

a separate oscilloscope in the measurement setup decreases test complexity

and reduces configuration time.

Precision power analyzers offer high accuracy and ease of connection to the

DUT, making them ideal for steady-state measurements of power consumption,

efficiency and power quality. For these measurements, the accuracy of the

power analyzer gives R&D engineers the measurement integrity they need.

With floating inputs and directly connected measurements, precision power

analyzers make it easy for engineers to connect to their DUTs.

Traditionally, only oscilloscopes offer the single-shot measurement capability

necessary for dynamic measurements during functional test. Furthermore, by

offering a visual picture of what is happening, oscilloscopes allow engineers

to gain insight into their DUTs and to identify issues. However, their lower

accuracy means that making critical efficiency measurements on high-

efficiency converters may not be possible. Because oscilloscopes have

ground-referenced, non-isolated front ends, probes are required for floating

and current measurements. Probes further reduce measurement accuracy and

make oscilloscopes harder to connect to the DUT for high-accuracy, power-

related measurements.

R&D engineers, therefore, are forced to switch between these two instruments

depending on the type of measurement they need to make: They use a

power analyzer to make accurate measurements and an oscilloscope to

visualize repetitive and single-shot events such as turn-on and occurrences

of transients. Switching between instruments is time consuming and makes it

difficult to get consistent, reproducible results.

Speciic time-period

measurement

The Keysight IntegraVision power

analyzer supports the capture of

voltage, current and power waveforms

over specific periods of time, with

measurements made based on cursors

placed on the captured waveforms.

This is particularly useful for examining

transient phenomena and in the design

of periodically controlled equipment.

To ensure that your DUT complies with

energy standards, for instance, it is

vital to measure power consumption

across a range of different modes

from sleep to full activity – and all the

transient states in between.

Capturing sudden or irregular

phenomena

Abnormal phenomena can often be

hard to isolate, disappearing from

the screen almost as soon as they

appear. Like a traditional oscilloscope,

the Keysight IntegraVision power

analyzer can be setup to make

single-shot measurements to capture

and measure transient phenomena,

including in-rush, cycle dropouts,

blackouts/brownouts, and other line

disturbances.

Continuous Whole-Cycle

Analysis

Power analyzers use mathematical

transformations to analyze signals. For

precision, the measurement window

cannot have any discontinuities or

gaps. Continuous Whole-Cycle

Analysis (CWA) used by the PA2000

Series is a gapless measurement

technique that always performs

measurements on a positive integer

number of signal cycles.