Caen ELS REGUL8OR User manual
REGUL8OR – User’s Manual
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REGUL8OR
Digital High-Performance
Programmable Power Supply
Controller
User’s Manual
All Rights Reserved
© CAEN ELS s.r.l.
Rev. 1.2 – May 2021
MAGNET POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS
REGUL8OR – User’s Manual
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User’s Manual – Models – Options – Custom Models
This manual covers the following standard REGUL8OR models:
•REGUL8OR
•REGUL8OR-PWM
For technical assistance please refer to the following contact:
CAEN ELS S.R.L.
SS14 km 163,5
34149 loc. Basovizza – Trieste (TS), Italy
(c/o Area Science Park – Building Q1)
Phone: +39 040 375 6610
Fax: +39 040 375 6611
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Table Of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................10
1.1 REGUL8OR OVERVIEW ..............................................................................10
1.2 REGUL8OR AT A GLANCE ...........................................................................13
DCCT – Direct Current Transducer........................................................15
Digital Control Loop................................................................................15
1.3 OPERATION MODES ......................................................................................17
Regulation Mode......................................................................................17
Control Mode ...........................................................................................17
Update Mode............................................................................................18
1.4 EXTERNAL INTERLOCKS AND STATUS SIGNALS ............................................19
Interlock Enable/Disable Mask................................................................19
Interlock Activation Level Mask ..............................................................19
Interlock Intervention Time......................................................................20
Interlock Isolation....................................................................................20
Output Status Signal – User-Defined.......................................................20
1.5 TRIGGER AND ANALOG CONTROL INPUTS.....................................................21
Trigger input ............................................................................................21
Analog Control Input ...............................................................................22
1.6 EXTERNAL SENSORS .....................................................................................24
1.7 SYNCHRONIZATION OF MULTIPLE UNITS ......................................................25
1.8 EXTERNAL SPI..............................................................................................25
1.9 OUTPUT CONNECTORS ..................................................................................26
1.10 INPUT VOLTAGE AND CURRENT CONNECTORS ..............................................27
1.11 FRONT PANEL INDICATORS ...........................................................................28
1.12 INTERNAL PROTECTIONS...............................................................................29
Regulation Fault ..................................................................................29
OVerTemperature - OVT .....................................................................29
1.13 WAVEFORM ..................................................................................................30
2. INSTALLATION...............................................................................................31
2.1 PREPARATION FOR USE .................................................................................31
2.2 INITIAL INSPECTION ......................................................................................31
2.3 MOUNTING....................................................................................................32
Rack Mounting .........................................................................................32
2.4 AC INPUT POWER CONNECTION ...................................................................32
AC Source Requirements .........................................................................33
AC Input Cord..........................................................................................33
2.5 EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY CONNECTION .....................................................34
2.6 CABLE LENGTH.............................................................................................34
2.7 INTERLOCK AND STATUS SIGNALS ................................................................36
2.8 EXTERNAL SENSORS .....................................................................................39
2.9 EXTERNAL SPI..............................................................................................40
2.10 TRIGGER AND ANALOG CONTROL INPUTS ....................................................41
2.11 ISOLATED OUTPUT CONNECTORS .................................................................42
2.12 SYNC IN AND SYNC OUT..........................................................................43
2.13 CURRENT AND VOLTAGE INPUTS ..................................................................44
2.14 INSULATION ..................................................................................................45
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2.15 MATING CONNECTORS..................................................................................46
3. LOCAL CONTROL ..........................................................................................47
3.1 NAVIGATION SWITCH....................................................................................47
3.2 DISPLAY........................................................................................................47
Power-up..................................................................................................48
Home Screen ............................................................................................49
Menu Page ...............................................................................................51
Control Page.....................................................................................52
Config Page......................................................................................53
Advanced Page.................................................................................54
4. MECHANICAL DIMENSIONS.......................................................................55
5. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ..................................................................56
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Document Revisions
Revision Date Comment
1.0
October 2nd, 2020
First Release
1.1
October 7th, 2020
Corrections made on several sections
1.2
May 21st, 2021
Updated Local Control Section
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Safety information
The following table shows the general environmental requirements for a correct
operation of instruments referred in this User’s Manual:
Environmental Conditions Requirements
Environment Indore use
Operating Temperature 0°C to 40°C
Operating Humidity 20% to 80% RH (non-condensing)
Altitude Up to 2000 m
Pollution degree 2
Overvoltage Category II
Storage Temperature -10°C to 60°C
Storage Humidity 5% to 90% RH (non-condensing)
The following symbols are used within this manual or are reported in the box and
along this manual:
•CAUTION Risk of Electrical Shock
•Caution: Documentation must be consulted in all cases where
this symbol is marked
•0 Off (Power)
•I On (Power)
•The WARNING sign denotes a hazard. An attention
to a procedure is called. Not following the procedure correctly could result in
personal injury. A WARNING sign should not be skipped and all indicated
conditions must be fully understood and met.
WARNING
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•The CAUTION sign denotes a hazard. An attention to
a procedure is called. Not following procedure correctly could result in
damage to the equipment. Do not proceed beyond a CAUTION sign until all
indicated conditions are fully understood and met.
CAEN ELS s.r.l. will repair or replace any product within the guarantee period
if the Guarantor declares that the product is defective due to workmanship or materials
and has not been caused by mishandling, negligence on behalf of the User, accident or
any abnormal conditions or operations.
Please read carefully the manual before operating any part of the instrument
Do NOT open the
TOP COVER of the BOX
CAEN ELS s.r.l. declines all responsibility for damages or injuries caused
by an improper use of the Modules due to negligence on behalf of the User. It is
strongly recommended to read thoroughly this User's Manual before any kind of
operation.
CAEN ELS s.r.l. reserves the right to change partially or entirely the contents of this
Manual at any time and without giving any notice.
CAUTION
WARNING
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Disposal of the Product
The product must never be dumped in the Municipal Waste. Please check your local
regulations for disposal of electronics products.
•Do not use this product in any manner not specified by
the manufacturer. The protective features of this product
may be impaired if it is used in a manner not specified in
this manual.
•Do not use the device if it is damaged. Before you use the
device, inspect the instrument for possible cracks or
breaks before each use.
•Do not operate the device around explosives gas, vapor
or dust.
•Always use the device with the cables provided.
•Turn off the device before establishing any connection.
•Do not operate the device with the cover removed or
loosened.
•Do not install substitute parts or perform any
unauthorized modification to the product.
•Return the product to the manufacturer for service and
repair to ensure that safety features are maintained
WARNING
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1. Introduction
This chapter describes the general characteristics and main features of the
REGUL8OR controller series.
1.1 REGUL8OR Overview
The REGUL8OR is a high-performance and high-stability digital controller and
can be used with all the COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) programmable power
supplies that accept an analog control input ranging from:
•0 V … +5 V (UNIPOLAR)
•0 V … +10 V (UNIPOLAR)
•-5 V … +5V (BIPOLAR)
•- 10 V … +10 V (BIPOLAR)
or a current 4-20 mA input to improve their specifications over different aspects.
Thanks to the GUI (Graphic User Interface), the control and configuration of the
REGUL8OR is straightforward, while the several interfaces present on the rear panel
of the module allow for a quick and easy connection to the external power supply
adding several functionalities.
The extreme versatility of the device is given by the possibility to choose, on the
same hardware module, between several current and voltage input ranges, as listed in
the following Table 1.
Input Type Ranges
Current [A] ± 100 ± 150 ± 200 ± 300 ± 400 ± 600 ± 1000
Voltage [V] ± 5 ± 10 ± 20 ± 50 ± 100 ± 200
Table 1: configurable ranges for the REGUL8OR
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The REGUL8OR module is housed in a compact mechanical format and it fits
in a single 19” - 1U standard crate. The device implements a completely digital control
loop with a 1-MSPS, 20-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) that allows adapting
the system to basically any general-purpose programmable power supplies. The
behavior of device is schematically descripted in Figure 1:
Figure 1: schematic representation of the REGUL8OR coupled to an external power supply. The
digital controller generates a voltage analog signal to control the external power supply, which in turn
acts as an amplifier and generates the current (or voltage) desired. The REGUL8OR then closes the
voltage and current loops and elaborates the values in a digital PID.
The REGUL8OR is a digital control device that uses two 24-bit Analog-to-
Digital Converters (ADCs), one for the voltage input path and the other for the current
input path, to sense the external current and voltage generated by the general-purpose
power unit controlled, in order to compute them in a digital PID controller which in
turn produces the analog voltage output (or the 4-20 mA) to control the COTS power
supply.
The control board houses a dedicated SoC (System on Chip), including an
FPGA with an integrated dual-core ARM CPU. The loop regulation task is performed
directly by the FPGA logic, in order to have high performance and deterministic loop
control. An embedded Linux OS is installed on the ARM CPU, supervising all
processes as well as communication, diagnostics and local interface handling.
Remote communication is guaranteed by means of an Ethernet 10/100/1000
Mbit autosensing socket present on the front panel of the device on a RJ45 connector.
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The REGUL8OR can be also monitored and controlled via a navigation switch
and a graphic high-resolution color display featuring user-friendly menus.
In addition to the standard Ethernet interface, it is possible to communicate with
the unit using the SFP-ports on the front panel. This interface allows communicating
with the unit using a proprietary protocol (packet structure with a very high update rate
(more than 10 kHz) for fast applications. These ports are connected directly to the
FPGA logic and so the given packet is elaborated directly by the hardware logic.
This approach eliminates the software stratification that manages the packet and
the computational time is smaller and deterministic, allowing a very high update rate of
the setpoint, giving the user more flexibility and excellent rates for the digital remote
control of the power supply.
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1.2 REGUL8OR at a glance
The REGUL8OR system is composed by a single 19-inch 1U crate. The unit and
its I/O connections can be easily seen in Figure 2(front view),
Figure 3(rear view) and
Figure 4(rear view with optical transmitters/receivers - optional).
Figure 2: REGUL8OR front view
On the front side of the REGUL8OR unit there are placed respectively: a power
switch, a colour graphic display with navigation switch for the local control of the
module, three communication sockets (2 SFPs and one Ethernet port), four status LEDs
and one USB device connector.
Figure 3: REGUL8OR rear view without opto-transmitters
Figure 4: REGUL8OR rear view with optional opto-transmitters
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On the rear side of the unit are placed: AC power line input and all the connectors
for the communication with other external devices. A brief description of the connector
used are described in the Table 2.
Connector Name
Connector
Type
Description
Optical
Transmitters
and
Interlocks
[OPTIONAL]
There is the possibility to install 8 optical
transmitter and 2 optical input receivers. This
can be used to generate high resolution PWM
signals to be fed to a power stage. Two optical
input interlocks are also available – e.g.
interlocks from IGBT modules
Interlocks
and
Status Signals
D-SUB25
6 external interlocks (four dry-contact types
and two 24-V type ones) that can be used to
capture external faults. Six signal status are
also present on the same connector: 2 TTL
signals (5 V), 2 magnetic relays with NO and
NC contacts and 2 solid state relays
Trigger Input Isolated BNC
Trigger Input connectors, can be used as a
hardware start, or for the execution of a pre-
loaded waveform
Sync In
and
Sync Out
SMA
Used to connect many power supplies in parallel
or to synchronize their operation: SYNC IN and
SYNC OUT signals is used to maintain different
units in-phase.
External SPI 8-pin
Right-Angle
This connector allows to add new modules to
the REGUL8OR
External Sensors D-SUB9
Male
Used to connect external sensors to the
REGUL8OR, e. g. external temperature
sensor or a hall probe.
Analog Input Isolated BNC
The control board can be controlled not only
using the digital communication interface but
also with an external analog
signal. Input
voltage range span from -10 V to +10 V (or
can be selected 5 V range)
DCCT – Current
Transducer
D-SUB9
Female
Thanks to this connector an external DCCT,
for the measure of the current, can be
connected to the REGUL8OR
Output Voltage
DAC Isolated BNC
BNC used to control the external power
supply. The voltage output is also available on
the LEMO connector together with the 4-20
mA output
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Connector Name
Connector
Type
Description
4-20 mA DAC LEMO Allows using the REGUL8OR in a 4-20 mA
control loop
Voltage Input Isolated
Banana
Two isolated banana connectors are installed
to sense the external voltage on the load
Table 2: short description of the connectors on the rear panel of the REGUL8OR
DCCT – Direct Current Transducer
To achieve high performance in terms of stability and low noise in the current
readout, and so on the current regulation, the REGUL8OR takes advantage of the
DCCT transducers of the <series manufactured by CAEN ELS.
The main characteristics of this technology are:
•Extreme low-noise values;
•Temperature Coefficient at sub-ppm level;
•Monitoring of DC and AC current;
•Galvanic insulation from the conductor to be measured – i.e. current
can be measured at a high voltage potential.
The use of this technology greatly improves specifications respect to the most
common requirements. The signal-conditioning network that converts the secondary
current of the transducer to a voltage is then fed to the Analog to Digital Converter
(ADC) is also a specific state-of-the-art know how.
Digital Control Loop
The core of the system is PID controller which is completely digital and it uses
state-of-art technology on the FPGA and the DAC to implement a controller able to
adapt to and to obtain maximum performance from any external power supply and any
load condition.
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Figure 5: schematic representation of the system
The implementation of the digital control loop via the REGUL8OR adds
flexibility to any analog existing system, allowing it to be tuned to any load condition
easily and remotely.
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1.3 Operation Modes
The REGUL8OR system has multiple features and multiple configurations that
allow using the unit for a very widespread scenario of applications and with a large
variety of loads.
A brief summary of the basic configurations that the unit is able to handle are
hereafter presented.
Regulation Mode
The REGUL8OR can be used as current-controlled or voltage-controlled bipolar
or monopolar unit. The regulation types are:
•C.C. mode: it is the Constant Current (CC) regulation mode. The device
regulates the output current produced by an external power supply and set by
the user;
•C.V. mode: it is the Constant Voltage (CV) regulation mode. The device
regulates the output voltage produced by the external power supply and set
by the user.
Control Mode
The REGUL8OR unit can be controlled in three main different ways that are
hereafter listed:
•LOCAL control: the unit can be controlled directly via the front panel color
display and the navigation switch. When the unit is set in LOCAL mode it is
possible to perform readings and monitor from the remote interface but any
setting command is denied;
•REMOTE control: the unit is controlled via the TCP-IP Ethernet interface.
The setting and control of the unit can be performed exclusively via this
interface while monitoring is still possible from the local display;
•FAST-INTERFACE control: this interface allows controlling the unit via a
proprietary protocol over the SFP/SFP+ interfaces (optical or electrical) and
it is meant to be used for very fast applications. Update rates of more than 10
kHz are reachable by using this communication channel.
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Update Mode
The current or voltage setting of the unit can also be performed in four different
modes:
•NORMAL: the update of the set-point (current or voltage, depending on the
operation mode – i.e. CC or CV respectively) is performed as soon as a new
set-point is received via the remote, local or fast interfaces
•WAVEFORM: the update of the set-point is performed on a specific timing
(defined as a “waveform” attribute, more information on the Waveform
section) and it is done internally
•TRIGGER: the set-point is updated by an external event – i.e. a hardware
trigger coming from the rear BNC connector
•ANALOG INPUT: the unit is controlled by an external signal that is fed to
the rear BNC connector. The unit acts as a C.C. or C.V. controller depending
on the pre-set Regulation Mode
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1.4 External Interlocks and Status Signals
The system is provided with 6 (six) external interlock inputs that can be easily
configured using the Web Interface (embedded in the power unit) or directly using the
standard power supply commands. A description of the configuration of the external
interlocks using the power supply commands is hereafter described.
The REGUL8OR also presents 6 (six) output status signals that are divided into:
•2 (two) magnetic relays with the NO, NC and COMMON taps;
•2 (two) solid state relays with two contacts;
•2 (two) isolated TTL signals (0-5 V).
All these signals can be connected with other internal signals or status’ (e.g.
module ON, module OFF, all the interlocks and so on) to create automations.
The configurability of the REGUL8OR series allows the users to decide what
interlocks are enabled or not, to set the interlock “trip” level (i.e. low or high), the time
of intervention (i.e. the time that an interlock signal has stay at the “trip” level before
generating a fault condition) and to associate to each one an interlock
name/identification.
This configuration can also be set and read using the Web Interface (provided
with the power module) or using the low-level device configuration commands, which
allows setting the advanced configuration parameters. All interlocks are disabled by
default.
External Interlocks and Status Signals are available on a D-SUB 25-pin Female
type on the rear panel of the REGUL8OR.
Interlock Enable/Disable Mask
The REGUL8OR series external interlocks can be enabled or disabled by
writing to the corresponding Interlock Enable/Disable Mask field of the advanced
configuration parameters. Refer to “Remote Control Manual” for additional details.
Interlock Activation Level Mask
Each external interlock can be chosen to trip at HIGH or LOW logic level. The
dry-contact interlocks are hardware-activated when the input pins and their
corresponding return pin are shorted. The remaining two interlocks are hardware-
activated when there is no voltage between the input pins and their corresponding return
pins. They are hardware-deactivated in case a 24-V voltage source is applied.
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It is necessary to write on the advanced configuration parameters with the Web
Interface or via standard power supply commands in order to configure the interlock
state mask.
Interlock Intervention Time
The module also allows to setting the interlock intervention time (the time that
an interlock signal needs to be at its activation level before tripping and thus generating
a fault condition). The parameters of the Intervention Time (expressed in milliseconds)
are stored in the device memory.
Interlock Isolation
The interlock pins are galvanically isolated from ground and outputs terminal,
nevertheless the absolute maximum voltage, referred to ground, that these pins can
sustain is of 54 VDC. All the interlocks inputs have their own return connection.
Output Status Signal – User-Defined
The solid-state relay signals (please refer to the I/O connector section for more
information) can be remotely commanded by the user in order to change their states
(open/shorted) for any specific customer application.
Solid State Relay Terminals shall not float more than ±54 VDC above/below
chassis ground and their maximum current rating should never exceed 400 mA.
The Signal Status can be set by writing to the corresponding Signal Status Mask
fields of the advanced configuration parameters (refer to the “Remote Control Manual”)
as well.
Table of contents
