ATEC carries a vast inventory of programmable power sources, providing customers with everything from low to high-power devices and from standard power sources to frequency converters. We offer affordable AC power supply rental rates for products from leading manufactures like Pacific Power, Preen, NH Research, Elgar, EM Test and Chroma.
what is an aC power Supply?
An AC power supply, or AC power source, generates power to a load and can be programmed to vary voltage, phase and frequency for testing purposes. AC power supplies are essential tools for the measurement of current in electrical systems, with applications like limiting the current drawn by a load to desired levels, shutting off a current in the event of an electrical fault and storing energy for emergency use. Equipment designed to use AC tends to need large amounts of voltage to ensure that the voltage is not stepped down as frequently as equipment using DC.
AC power supplies come in two varieties. The two variations of AC power supply include an unregulated and regulated format. Regulated AC power supplies do not have many alternating design options, while unregulated power supplies do not have the ability to supply constant voltage to a load. Often used by manufacturers to check the suitability of products to be used in other countries, AC power supplies can be used to change the voltage and also change the frequency.
AC power sources are commonly used in the industrial and scientific sectors as lab instruments for compliance testing. Technicians also use power sources in the alternative energy, automotive, aerospace, power grid and telecommunications industries as well as for R&D testing. AC power supplies come as either single-phase or three-phase AC source units with varying input and output powers. Many conform to the requirements of industry standards like
DO-160,
MIL-STD-704 and
IEC 61000-4-11.
how does an aC power Source work?
An AC power supply typically takes the voltage from a wall outlet and utilizes a transformer to increase or decrease voltage to the desired point. Certain types of AC power supplies are built to create a constant current and output voltage may vary which depends on the load impedance. Additionally, AC power supplies can be divided into either single-phase and three-phase systems. A single-phase power supply will use two conductors (phase and a neutral) and a three-phase power supply uses three conductors to transfer 3x as much power. Three-phase power sources are environmentally friendly because they require less conductor material to transmit a certain amount of power. It is important to understand that there are several factors that must be considered regarding AC power source and supply.
Factors include:
- Peak Voltage/Current
- Frequency
- Mean Voltage/Current
- Root-mean-square voltage/current
Choosing the right aC Power Supply
ATEC's inventory includes products with all the following specifications and more:
Input Power
- 120 V Single-Phase
- 208 V Single-Phase
- 208 V Three-Phase
- 480 V Three-Phase
Output Power
- 0 - 5.0 kVA
- 5.1 - 10.0 kVA
- 10.1 - 25.0 kVA
- 25.1 - 50.0 kVA
- 50.1 - 100 kVA
- > 100 kVA
Performance Features
- Fast transient response
- Tight load regulation
- High peak current capacity
- Low output impedance
- Linear (no switching noise)
- PWM Switching (low switching noise)
Test Standard Compliance
- Airbus ABD0100.1.8 (A380)
- Airbus ABD0100.1.8.1 (A350)
- Airbus Directive 0100.1.8
- Airbus AMD24
- Airbus A350
- Boeing 787
- IEC 61000-3-2
- IEC 61000-3-3
- IEC 61000-3-11
- IEC 61000-3-12
- IEC 61000-4-11
- IEC 61000-4-14
- IEC 61000-4-28
- JIS C 61000-3-2
- MIL-STD 704
- RTCA/DO-160, Section 16
- And more