RoadTest: MPS Four-Channel Output Power Module EVM
Author: pedjor
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?:
What were the biggest problems encountered?: The software to be used and the connection to the device. Somehow it doesn't get recognized automatically.
Detailed Review:
The test kit comes with the communication module and the test board. However, no documentation is given. You have to get online. A quick start guide would be great.
I can tell it is resilient as some misfortunes happened including connecting with the wrong polarity.
Next, I was able to connect the hardware. To my despair, it did not recognize the device in the software automatically. It is not easy to understand how it should be the configuration of the address and so on. In the end, I just selected the first address and it went ok.
The software is easy to use once you get acquainted with it. It does take some time to respond to your commands, which makes it annoying for testing purposes but that would be ok for standard applications where you really won't be reconfiguring it a lot. One feature of the device I missed was a "watchdog" on the output. I was not able to define limits on current and voltage which I would consider to be in the good region.
One of our main concerns with this device is the ripple and noise introduced in the power line. The tests relied on the use of an oscilloscope (RTO1014 from Rohde). The power supply and load were done using an SMU from Keithley (2636B). Channel A was configured to supply 6V while channel B forced a load of 1A to the system.
The ripple is under 10 mV except when 533kHz is selected. It does change with the frequency chosen.
Here are screenshots of the output with different configurations (tested output 1 with the standard configuration apart from frequency)
533 kHz
| No load | With 1A load |
|---|---|
 |  |
800 kHz
1060 kHz
1600 kHz
The input was also observed on the scope with the device disabled and enabled by means of the switch in the test board. It goes from a basically clean signal when the device is not enabled to having a ripple in the tens of mV
| Chip not enabled | Chip enabled |
|---|---|
 |  |
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rscasny
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