In case you haven’t heard, Tektronix recently introduced a new power analyzer, the PA4000. Rounding out our power test offerings, the PA4000 enables an end-to-end solution providing the performance to measure for conformance to regulatory standards, or to meet customer-specific requirements. How2Power Today featured a very thorough article on this new product in their April issue – check out some highlights from that article below!
So what makes the PA4000 so great and unique? It has the ability to offer excellent accuracy (0.04 percent basic accuracy) with an offering of many standard features. Based off a platform developed by Voltech, this new technology comes with a choice of one to four channels, giving customers the opportunity to tailor the instrument to their needs, whether using it for single or multi-phase measurements. The great thing about this is customers have the chance to insert additional channels later should they decide to purchase with fewer than four channels at first.
Wait, there’s more!
- Each channel can measure voltages up to 1000 V rms or 2000 V peak with currents up to 30 A rms or 200 A peak.
- Each channel has two internal current shunts built in to enable very high measurement accuracy over the full current measurement range – a new and unique feature to the power analyzer industry!
- The PA4000’s accuracy is abetted by a unique DSP algorithm that reliably locks onto the signal under test even when transients and noise occurs
So what is possibly the most interesting trait of this new power analyzer technology? According to How2Power Today, its use of dual Spiral current shunts, which offer engineers stable and precise current measurements; even on highly distorted signals.
Aside from the accuracy, the two shunts within each channel make the PA4000 stand alone from its’ competitors. Most high-end instruments in the industry give you a choice of shunts, but only one kind per instrument.
We set out to build a product with as many standard features as possible that saves engineers setup time and reduces errors, and so far it has been a success.
Are you intrigued? If so, be sure to check out How2Power Today’s in-depth article for a closer look at this new power analyzer technology.
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