Nuts and Volts - July/August 2018

NEW PRODUCTS ■ HARDWARE ■ SOFTWARE ■ GADGETS ■ TOOLS

22 July/August 2018

IoT BUILDER DESIGN

SOFTWARE

Labcenter Electronics Ltd. has announced the launch of its new Internet of Things design software: Io T Builder. It’s based on Labcenter’s renowned microcontroller simulation tools and initially targets the Arduino ecosystem.

The product provides a unique agile workflow for the design of electronic appliances that can be controlled from a cellphone or tablet.

Users can design a ‘virtual front panel’ in the Io T Builder editor and then program the interaction of the front panel controls with the Arduino hardware using simple Visual Designer flowchart blocks.

At any time during development, the entire system can be tested and debugged in the Proteus VSM simulation. This executes the same compiled hex file as the real hardware and will also simulate the interaction of the front panel with the electronics.

Once everything is working as expected, the firmware and front panel can be deployed to the Arduino hardware at the press of a button.

The final step is to point the target device at the remote hardware, watch it acquire the front panel over TCP/IP, and then control it from a cell phone, tablet, or PC.

HIGH VOLTAGE

DIFFERENTIAL PROBES

Saelig Company, Inc., announces the availability of Teledyne LeCroy HVD3000A high voltage differential probes, including the 1 kV HVD310xA, the 2 kV HVD3206A, and the 6 kV HVD3605A. These probes provide excellent CMRR (common mode rejection ratio) over a broad frequency range to simplify the measurement challenges found in noisy, high common-mode power electronics environments.

The probe’s design makes it easy and safe to make precise high voltage floating measurements. Serving a wide range of power-electronics applications, they provide 1% gain accuracy, a differential-voltage range of up to 1,500V (DC + peak AC), and high offset ranges.

The HVD3000A probes can perform an AutoZero functionality without having to first remove the probes from the device under test, ensuring consistent and efficient high voltage testing. The AutoZero capability ensures data precision by allowing small offset drifts to be calibrated out of the measurements.

Additionally, the HVD3000A probes automatically detect overloads of both differential- and common-mode inputs, displaying the overload condition on the oscilloscope’s screen. Designed to work with Teledyne LeCroy’s oscilloscope range, all HVD3000A series probes connect via the ProBus interface which brings power and communications, eliminating the need for a separate power supply or batteries. Attenuation is automatically selected based on the o’scope gain range (V/div) setting.

The CMRR for the probes is exceptional even to very high frequencies, greatly improving measurement capability.

The high CMRR combined with low probe noise and high offset capability provides superior measurement capabilities compared to other HV differential probes.

The HVD3000A series covers a broad range of applications, from 120/240V switch-mode power supplies through 600V class and 5 kV class electrical apparatus. High-power DC-DC converters can operate at substantial voltages 500 VDC or higher.

The HVD310xA models provide up to 1,000 VDC common-mode (HVD3206A models provide up to 1500 VDC) and high precision (1% gain accuracy) DC voltage measurements.

Automatic switchable attenuation keeps the probe in the optimum measurement range. Multiple probes can be used to understand complex device switching performance. The HVD3000A high voltage differential probes start at $1,535.