C

Four Tips to
Protect Against Power-Related Damage

eBook
INTRODUCTION

Avoid Damaging Devices

and Equipment
Extra care is necessary when working with devices that use higher
power, are reactive or simple store energy. These devices are
notorious for damaging themselves and the surrounding equipment.
Fortunately, modern bench power supplies can protect against this
damage. Learn how to protect your power supply and devices with
these four power supply tips:

• Protect your device against overpower

• Keep your power supply safe when working with energy storage

• Set slew rates to reduce inrush current

• Use delayed overcurrent protection to allow normal operation

Four Tips to Protect Against Power-Related Damage | 2

Overpower Energy Storage Slew Rates Overcurrent

Contents
Four Tips to Protect Against Power-Related Damage

TIP 1 TIP 2 TIP 3 TIP 4

Protect Your Device Keep Your Power Set Slew Rates Use Delayed
Against Overpower Supply Safe When to Reduce Inrush Overcurrent Protection
Working with Energy Current to Allow Normal Device
Storage Operation

GO TO TIP 1 > GO TO TIP 2 > GO TO TIP 3 > GO TO TIP 4 >

Four Tips to Protect Against Power-Related Damage | 3

TIP 1

Protect Your
Device Against
Overpower

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Overpower Energy Storage Slew Rates Overcurrent

TIP 1

Protect Your Device Against Overpower

Overvoltage and overcurrent protection work well for protecting Table 1. Reducing the maximum current as voltage increases protects
a device that has a single maximum voltage and current. Some the converter from overpower
devices’ max current changes with voltage. A good example is a DC-
to-DC converter, as its input can accept a range of voltages, and it Step Voltage setting (V) Current limit (A) Power calculated (W)
provides a regulated voltage output. Every DC-to-DC converter has a
max power rating. An increase in voltage will cause the max current 0. 9 5.6 50
to decrease. For example, take a 12 V to 19 V / 2 A converter that can
handle a 9 V to 18 V input. 1. 10 5.0 50

2. 11 4.5 50
A power supply can test the input 9 V to 18 V, but the max current
limit needs to be set independently for each voltage step, A current 3. 12 4.2 50
acceptable with a 9 V input would be damaging at 17 V, so the
current limit needs to vary with the input voltage (Table 1). The 4. 13 3.8 50
max input power is set at 50 W to handle the inefficiencies and
transient currents. 5. 14 3.6 50

6. 15 3.3 50

7. 16 3.1 50

8. 17 2.9 50

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Overpower Energy Storage Slew Rates Overcurrent

Power supplies, like the Keysight E36200 series autoranging power actual voltage and current values and see how the power consumption
supply, support output LISTs. Output LISTs allow you to vary the changes. For this DC-to-DC converter, the input power is 44.8 W with
output with a series of steps. Each step defines a voltage-current an 8 V input, and 43.3 W with an 18 V input. We now have an accurate
combination along with a dwell time and synchronizing triggers. A picture of our convertor’s performance.
dwell time holds each step for the specified period before advancing
to the next step.
LIST mode is useful for setting a series of voltage-current combinations
and protecting a device from overpower.
With the power supply powering the converter in our example
above, the output of the converter powers a 19 V, 2 A load.

Figure 1. An output LIST is a series of steps with an individual voltage, current,

and dwell time

The power supply measures the actual voltage and current for
each step and logs it. To characterize your device, multiply the

Want to Learn More?

> Ebook. Tip 4: Dynamically Change

the Output Using List Mode

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Overpower Energy Storage Slew Rates Overcurrent

TIP 2

Keep Your Power

Supply Safe
When Working
with Energy
Storage

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TIP 2

Keep Your Power Supply Safe

When Working with Energy Storage

A bench power supply sources current out of its positive terminal. As

shown in Figure 2, a bench power supply is a quadrant-one device.
You can identify power supplies that operate in additional quadrants
by their titles. Common names include multiple quadrant, bipolar, or
source measure unit. They may also use an active dissipator.

+V
Quadrant 2 Quadrant 1

• Voltage: Positve • Voltage: Positve

• Current: Negative • Current: Positive
• Power: Consumed • Power: Sourced
I I
+V +V
Load Power
Supply

I I
-I -V -V +I
Power Load
Supply

• Voltage: Negative • Voltage: Negative

• Current: Negative • Current: Positive
• Power: Sourced • Power: Consumed

-V

Figure 2. Quadrant map for power

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Most bench power supplies use a direct connection from the When using four-wire remote sense, the power supply’s compensation
internal power source to the outputs. This provides better control circuit also needs protection from inbound currents. Connecting the
and eliminates the need for relays that have a limited lifetime. Since remote sense wires behind a diode protects the power supply (Figure 3).
a bench power supply cannot absorb energy, it is essential to not
force current into the supply from a second energy source.
Use extra care to keep your power supply safe when working with
circuits that use multiple power supplies or have components that
Dangerous energy sources are devices like large capacitors, store energy.
batteries, a second power supply, or other outputs from the same
power supply. When charging a battery with a power supply, remove
the charged battery from the power supply before reducing the
voltage or turning off the outputs. A battery with a higher voltage
than the power supply forces current into the power supply. +

Power supply outputs

A simple fix is to add a diode to the power supply output when

Battery
S- -- + S-

working with devices that store energy. However, make sure to

account for the incremental voltage drop caused by the diode.

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Figure 3. A diode ensures that current flows out of a power

> Video. Bench Power Supply low range current mode
supply to a battery and not in the reverse direction.

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TIP 3

Set Slew Rates

to Reduce Inrush
Current

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TIP 3

Set Slew Rates to Reduce

Inrush Current
Variable slew rate controls adjust how fast a power supply can
change from one voltage level to the next. Slowing the rate of
voltage change reduces the rate that current flows into a capacitive
device. Many devices have an input capacitor to help regulate
voltage. Some devices have unintended capacitance based on their
design or wiring.

For example, a sample incandescent automotive taillight has a high

capacitance. As a result, it generates an inrush current that consistently
burns out fuses. Figure 4 shows that the inrush current of 8 A is four times
larger than the steady-state current. The 8 A inrush current occurs at
12 V. A higher voltage causes a more significant peak. It is not uncommon
for an automobile to run at 14 V.
Figure 4. Shows the inrush current to an automotive taillight

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Using the E36200 series slew rate control to slow the rate of change
to 100 V/s cuts the peak current in half, as shown in Figure 5. At
10 V/s, a peak current is negligible, as shown in Figure 6.

Slew rate control slows the voltage change when the voltage is
rising or falling. In our taillight example, with a slew rate of 10 V/s,
you can visibly see the brightness increase as it takes more than a
second to reach 12 V. Using a slew rate of 100 V/s does not cause a
visual change but reduces the inrush current by 50%.

Modifying the slew rate controls allows you to both protect your
device from excess inrush current and set acceptable inrush current
tolerances for your devices.

Figure 6. The variable slew rate of 10 V/s eliminates the inrush current

Want to Learn More?

> Video. Measuring Settling Time with a Power Analyzer

Four Tips to Protect Against Power-Related Damage | 12

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TIP 4

Use Delayed
Overcurrent
Protection to
Allow Normal
Operation

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TIP 4

Use Delayed Overcurrent

Protection to Allow
Normal Operation
Once you have set up a power supply to output the correct voltage,
establishing a current limit protects the device. Power supplies have
multiple ways to limit current. The most common method is to set
a current limit and have the power supply switch from constant
voltage to constant current mode. You can review constant voltage
and constant current mode in Tip 1 here: 4 Ways to Build Your
Power Supply Skill Set. When operating in constant voltage mode,
a power supply outputs the set voltage. If the device reaches the
current limit, the power supply switches to constant current mode,
outputting the max current. If the device returns to using less
current, the power supply will return to constant voltage mode. In
Figure 7, the device continues to pull current until the power supply
switches to constant current mode. Operating a device at its max
current rating typically generates excessive heat and can reduce the
life of the device.

Figure 7. A device using increasingly higher current until the power supply switches
to constant current mode

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Overpower Energy Storage Slew Rates Overcurrent

A second, protection method is to use overcurrent protection (OCP), In a situation where a current spike is part of regular operation, delayed
which shuts down the output when the device pulls too much OCP will keep the power supply in its two normal operating modes:
current, as shown in Figure 8. Shutting down the device avoids constant voltage and constant current. When using delayed OCP, there
generating excessive heat in the device. are two possible outcomes. The first is that the device draws less than
the max current for the specified time and the power supply returns to
a constant voltage mode (see Figure 9). The second possible outcome
is that the device requires the max current for longer than the specified
time, which disables the outputs (see Figure 10).

Figure 8. Overcurrent protection shuts down the output at the

current limit

Figure 9. In scenario 1, the power supply returns to constant

voltage mode before tripping the delayed OCP

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Delayed OCP takes advantage of limiting the current by switching
to the constant current mode and restricts the amount of time
that the device can draw the max current, which limits damage
from overheating.

Figure 10. In scenario 2, the load continues to draw the max current, tripping the
delayed OCP

Want to Learn More?

> Ebook. Tip 1: Understanding CV and CC

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WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Get the Power Supply What about built-in features?

Selection Guide Newer, high-performance power supplies provide convenient built-in
features to eliminate the need for additional equipment, such as a scope,
Whether you need a basic power supply or more sophisticated a multimeter, or a second power supply. For example, some power
features for specific applications, this guide helps you select the supplies come with built-in multimeter level accuracy, dataloggers that
right power supply for your needs. Start by choosing a power supply can capture power transients, or even auto-series to cover voltage-current
form factor that meets your needs. Bench power supplies should be combinations that previously required multiple power supplies. Specialized
small but have large, bright displays and front-panel connectors. The power supplies may include sophisticated features such as dynamic current
shape of system power supplies minimizes the use of rack space, characterization or the ability to source and synchronize current.
but their extended depth and loud fans do not belong on a bench.

Get the connectivity you need

Key capabilities for a bench
power supply Newer power supplies often allow data transfer with a USB thumb drive.
More advanced control is available via USB, LAN, or GPIB. Keysight’s
Bench power supplies feature a large display, making it easy to BenchVue software makes it easy to capture, control, and synchronize
monitor voltages and currents on each channel quickly. They output multiple instruments.
clean DC power with low noise and independent isolated channels
to minimize ground loops. Device protection needs to include
Check out our 200 W and 400 W E36200 series autoranging power
both overvoltage and overcurrent protection. A bench power
supplies: http://www.keysight.com/find/E36200
supply is often powering a device most of the day and needs to
be acoustically quiet on the bench, making it easy to live with.
Want to Learn More?

> Selection Guide: Power Product Solutions

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This information is subject to change without notice. © Keysight Technologies, 2019 – 2023, Published in USA, August 3, 2023, 5992-4366EN