Automotive electronics testing with Keysight E36150 power supplies

Electronic components used in automotive applications need to be immune to the harsh power systems in which they operate. Power system surges and drop-outs are common, therefore automotive electronic manufacturers are required to design and thoroughly validate their products to ensure optimum operation even in such conditions. ISO standard test specifications such as ISO16750 and ISO7637, have been developed that replicate some of the power transients seen in Automotive applications, and compliance is required for quality assurance.

The Keysight E36150 Series of power supplies now support a new upgrade option E36150ATMU that allow you to quickly generate complex power transients that is specified in the ISO and more. The option simplifies validation of your product design throughout the development cycle and therefore minimizing the risk of development regression.

The E36150ATMU upgrade option brings these four new features:

• Enhanced programming speed up to 7.5x faster to support the fast voltage drops and rises that are required for some of the power transient simulations.
•  Built-in automotive ISO preset library (requires both E36150ATMU and E36150ADVU). The library includes up to seven waveforms including the starting profile, reset behavior, motor regen, load dump, etc. that are derived from the ISO. The library allows the users to readily load the ISO waveform without tedious manual output programming, and at the same time provide the users flexibility to easily go into the various segments of the waveforms and modify the settings with the intuitive embedded UI according to your test case application.
• Playback simulation with Constant Dwell Arb. Import and output complex waveforms up to 10,000 constant dwell setpoints. One step further than just ensuring compliance to the ISO, this feature allows you to capture actual power conditions in the real vehicle system where your DUT will operate from an oscilloscope in CSV format and then play it back repeatedly in the lab with your E36150 Series.
•  External datalogger (E-Logger) with fast sampling rate up to 1 ms of concurrent voltage and current traces measurements (requires both E36150ATMU and E36150ADVU). The E-logger feature is able to support ISO requirements by continuously sending these critical measurements data to your PC via LAN or USB interface in a configurable interval (default setting every 0.1 second) ensuring timely live update and all data are precisely recorded.

More information about these new test features can be found in this application note.