New smart monitoring and digital control capabilities for AC/DC high power supplies

Advanced Energy has unveiled a new hardware accessory for its ultra-efficient, high-power suppliers. Its PowerPro Dongle unlocks real-time powerful monitoring, control and diagnostics capabilities for designers.

Compatible with the company's Evergreen modular and NeoPower configurable AC/DC technologies, the new PowerPro Dongle provides CANBUS and PMBus connectivity without changing the base model. Using the sophisticated MODBUS GUI, users can intuitively visualise and control the power supply to simplify and speed configuration, programming, diagnostics, troubleshooting, firmware updates and qualification. Its PowerPro Dongle permits for easier data integration with networked devices, such as AI edge devices. Accessing data directly from the power system enables real-time monitoring of power usage information.

"Our aim is to provide designers with the products and tools that make design, prototyping, customisation, diagnostics and certification as quick and easy as possible," says María Cortez, Advanced Energy's senior vice president, Industrial Power Products. "Our Evergreen and NeoPower products already come with a MODBUS digital bus, but the new PowerPro Dongle, which can be mounted anywhere in the system and is easily customisable to suit specific needs, adds CANBus and PMBus functionality, while our MODBUS GUI provides intuitive at-a-glance access to critical performance data."

Initially, with powers up to 4,000W, the NeoPower configurable power supplies deliver optimised power conversion for industrial and medical applications in a small form factor with up to four times higher power density than conventional solutions. The modular Evergreen family features 10kW building blocks and allows fast system assembly and scaling of high-power-density applications. Both platforms provide a sophisticated digital communication bus that supplies development integration tools, such as power reporting and a datalogger, to record performance during integration testing. A wide range of configurable options can be programmed via the digital bus to customise the product to various applications.

The new dongle adds CANBUS and PMBus connectivity to these industry-leading platforms. The dongle form factor allows easy integration, enhancement and customisation to suit specific requirements. Using the MODBUS GUI, engineers can visualise digital bus features, access powerful monitoring, control and diagnostic capabilities and extract power supply data. Further features include configuring voltage, current and other parameters in real-time to accommodate the load in applications such as battery charging, semiconductor burn-in, laser drivers, hydrogen production and electroplating.

Extended data acquisition' black box' storage function aids failure analysis, and the ability to report power supply telemetry data speeds up product qualification testing. The GUI also allows convenient firmware updates in the field and fast power supply programming in manufacturing via user-customised application-based configuration files.