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October 15, 2020 - Vista, California - Axiom Test Equipment, an electronic test equipment rental and
sales company has published a new blog post entitled "Regenerative Grid Simulators Support Real-World Testing." Prior
to reading the article, I had never given any though to how being connected to a
power grid which is fed by a large number of independent solar panels, wind turbines,
and hot air from politicians might affect the quality of electricity at my wall
outlet. When multiple sources are combined onto a common line, inevitably there
will be unique artifacts (noise spikes, harmonics, phase shifts, distortion, etc.)
from each source that affects the supplied voltage and current waveforms, even with
attempts to synchronize everything. Technically you are receiving a 60 Hz (or
50 Hz) alternating voltage source, but its makeup can be significantly different
from an otherwise pure sinewave. This might thwart the efforts of
Time Error Correction schemes implemented by electric utility grid operators
to assure a long-term frequency stability required by synchronous motors in timekeeping
devices (e.g., older wall clocks and clock-radios). This blog post addresses these
issues, and also includes information about testing electricity generation systems
that are capable of pumping power back into the distribution grid.
Electricity powers most lives and the electronic products within those lives.
Electronic devices provide communications and many other conveniences, while electric
vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are providing mobility to a growing
number of drivers and passengers. Electronic devices draw power from the power grid
surrounding them, supplied by utilities and regenerative sources such as wind turbines
and photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. While electronic products are designed and developed
with the help of traditional test equipment such as oscilloscopes, a different type
of test instrument is needed for grid-connected device testing: the regenerative
grid simulator. Such a tester makes it possible to know how a device under test
(DUT) will perform under changing, real-world conditions when connected to the electric
power grid.
Regenerative grid simulators are fundamentally AC power supplies many of which
can also provide DC power. They typically operate over wide AC input voltage ranges
and provide full four-quadrant control of AC power to emulate the behavior of an
electric power grid under different and changing conditions, such as AC power with
changing voltage, current, and frequency. The regenerative grid simulator takes
the place of the power grid on which a DUT would normally be connected, making it
possible to understand how it will perform under different operating conditions
and according to different industry standards.
Since some DUTs may regenerate and feed power back into the electric power grid,
such as the electrical power storage and charging components within an HEV or EV,
a regenerative grid simulator is a power source that can also sink power from a
DUT and feed it back to the power grid with high efficiency. This equips the simulator
with the capability to serve as a test power source for DUTs that also produce power,
such as those with a photovoltaic (PV) inverter or uninterruptible power supply
(UPS). With its sourcing and sinking capabilities a regenerative grid simulator
can operate and support testing of a DUT across a wide range of electric power grid
conditions, even extremely transient conditions. Regenerative grid simulators capable
of sufficient AC output voltages over required output frequency ranges are well
equipped for performing many tests that are specific to EVs and HEVs, such as vehicle-to-grid
(V2G) testing and energy-storage-system (ESS) testing...
Whatever your project requires testing of, rent or buy quality test equipment
from Axiom Test Equipment. For over 15 years Axiom Test Equipment has rented, sold,
repaired and accepted trade-in of test equipment to support your test & measurement
needs. If you would like help selecting any type of test equipment for your next
project, contact Axiom Test Equipment's sales department at sales@transcat.com,
call 760-806-6600, or browse Axiom Test Equipment's inventory online at www.axiomtest.com.
If you would like help selecting any type of test equipment for your project,
contact Axiom Test Equipment's sales department at
sales@transcat.com,
call 760-806-6600, or browse Axiom Test Equipment's inventory online at
www.axiomtest.com.
About Axiom Test Equipment
Get Exactly What You Need. Rent - Buy
- Repair - Trade-In
Established in 2005, Axiom Test Equipment strives to continually improve itself
and offer the best value for its customers. We offer our customers several practical,
efficient and cost effective solutions for their business or projects' test equipment
needs. Whether you need to
rent &
buy test equipment, repair test equipment, sell or trade equipment, we are committed
to providing superior customer service and high quality electronic test equipment.
At Axiom Test Equipment we provide several services. We
rent electronic
test and measurement equipment. We also sell test equipment. If you have a piece
of malfunctioning or broken test equipment we also have an in-house repair lab.
For anyone seeking a way to offload their surplus or obsolete equipment, we offer
a trade-in program or we can buy the equipment from you.
We stock a comprehensive inventory of equipment and can use our extensive network
to find you those hard to get items. We believe in getting equipment to you quickly
and at a competitive price.
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Get Exactly What You Need. Rent - Buy
- Repair - Trade-In