Powering electronic devices requires the testing of power supply and charging circuits, battery management systems (BMSs), and battery cells. Many of these circuits require voltage, current, and power measurements, plus numerous others. Oscilloscopes and probes let you see the waveforms in power-delivery circuits, but the circuits themselves may need simulated batteries and simulated loads. That’s because you often have to design power circuits before the final product is available. That’s where the products listed below can help. The equipment listed here provides an overview of what EE World saw displayed at APEC 2025 in Atlanta.
While visiting Ametek Programmable Power, EE World discussed several applications for programmable power supplies and loads, mostly focused on EVs.
B+K Precision exhibited several test instruments. The photo shows the HVL600150 electronic load. Other test instruments included data-acquisition systems such as the DAQ3120 modular system.
Testing power circuits and BMSs often requires simulating batteries. That’s where the Chroma 87001 battery simulator comes in. It provides 16 channels so you can simulate up to 16 battery cells. The simulator provides up to 5 V, 5 A for a total power of 25 W. It also measures voltage and current. Applications include testing BMSs and battery-powered devices such as hand tools.
Hioki exhibited several products for testing power electronics. Shown in the photo is the PW8001 power analyzer, which provides eight channels with 18-bit resolution. Use it to measure DC and AC power with a basic accuracy ±0.03%, DC accuracy ±0.05%, and 0.2% accuracy to 50 kHz.
Hioki also exhibited the PW9100A AC/DC current box. Available with three or four channels, the PW9100A works in conjunction with Hioki’s power analyzers. It performs direct-connection current measurements.
ITECH exhibited several power-electronics test equipment. The photo shows the IT6600C bidirectional programmable DC power supply. Models in this series deliver output power up to 42 kW. The company also showed the IT6005B-80-150 capable of producing up to 5 kW. Other power sources at APEC were the IT-N6952, an 850 W auto-ranging DC power supply, and the IT-N2121 solar-array simulator.
Picotest has reduced the size of its transient load stepper board for testing GPUs. The board reduces 48 V to 0.8 V at up to 2000 A. Use it to test for power integrity, power distribution network (PDN) validation, voltage-regulator module (VRM) stability and transient response, noise, large-signal control loop stability, input filter stability, load emulation, thermal (TDP) testing, and IC package performance. In the video, Steve Sandler explains the design of the board and why GPUs need so much power.
