High-Power Racks: Build or Buy?

Do you need a high-power system for testing or performing burn-in on solar panel arrays, electric vehicle batteries, fuel cells systems or other products that require high power? Your first impression might be that the solution appears straightforward: fill a 19-inch instrument rack or multiple racks with the number of instruments you need to meet the test system power requirements.

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Upon further investigation, these questions will come up for consideration:

• Do we have the knowledge to ensure the system is both safe and compliant with applicable safety standards?
• Can my department spend the time, and do we have the personnel to design, acquire the material, assemble, program, and test the system?
• How do we manage the heat dissipation of the high-power system?
• Can we ensure that the test racks can be maneuvered easily when manufacturing layouts change?
• How can the test racks be wired for ease of installation and low interconnection power loss?
• How will the system be documented for installation, operation and maintenance?

The development of a high-power system turns out to be a sophisticated challenge. The better alternative is to save time and resources so that more pressing work can have higher priority by taking advantage of a manufacturer of power supplies and electronic loads who has extensive experience in building power test racks. EA Elektro-Automatik provides turnkey high-power rack assemblies that can generate or absorb up to 1.92 MW of power with voltage and current outputs in one rack available up to 2000 V and 8000 A. EA power test racks can either source or sink power; and EA has solutions for all your concerns such as safety, standards compliance, heat management, efficient interconnections, and documentation.

Example EA Power Test Rack

In addition, EA power supplies and electronic loads have a number of features that allow for maximum performance and energy efficiency. Autoranging instruments enable sourcing or sinking maximum power over a wide range of voltage and current parameters. The instruments offer built-in function generators that allow for more extensive testing and simulations of specific source or load conditions. Furthermore, bidirectional power supplies and regenerative electronic loads return absorbed energy to the grid with up to 96% efficiency to reduce cooling infrastructure requirements and to provide significant energy savings.

Let EA save you critical development time and resources by providing you a cost-effective power rack solution that is safe, energy-efficient, fully documented, and meets a wide range of test needs. See what goes into an EA power test rack by reviewing our application note, Addressing the Challenges of Specifying and Making Power Racks.