ZAHNER PAD4 User manual

( )
20/12/2022

PAD4
Caution!!!
Please read the risk assessment document before operating the potentiostat.
Prevent the inputs of the potentiostat from electrostatic discharge (ESD)! ESD may
damage the potentiostat. ESD-related damages are not covered by the warranty of
the potentiostat. The user must make sure to discharge his-/herself from any
electrical charge before touching the potentiostat (TIP: use grounded ESD-matts).
Maintain the maximum input voltage of the device and the selected voltage range.
Use electrically insulated thermocouples.
Do not expose the PAD4 card to heat.

PAD4
1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 3
1.1 Packing List...........................................................................................5
2 PAD4: Technical Data............................................................................... 6
2.1 PAD4-HC Specifications .................................................................... 6
2.2 PAD4-LC Specifications .................................................................... 6
2.3 PAD4-HZ Specifications .....................................................................7
2.4 PAD4 Input Jack Pinout ......................................................................7
2.4.1 2-Pole LEMO Jack (effective until July 2015).............................7
2.4.2 7-Pole LEMOSA Jack (effective from August 2015) .................8
3 Configuration ............................................................................................ 9
3.1 Select PAD4 Channel for AC Voltage Display..................................10
3.2 Select PAD4 Channels for EIS Measurement ..................................10
3.3 PAD4 Calibration............................................................................... 11
3.4 Setup Customized Input Ranges...................................................... 11
3.5 Setup PAD4 Mode............................................................................. 11
4 Parallel Impedance Measurements ........................................................12
5 Parallel Impedance Analysis....................................................................14
6 DC Measurements and Signal Acquisition .............................................15
6.1 Create ACQ Channels for PAD4........................................................15

PAD4 -3-
1Introduction
The PAD4 was designed for the investigation of stacked objects like batteries and
fuel cells, where the impedance, defined by one common current through the
object, but several voltages accessible on several taps must be acquired in parallel.
Compared to the usual solution with multiplexers like the PMUX series, the PAD4
has the advantage of real parallel acquisition, saving measurement time and
avoiding time lags between the acquisitions of different channels.
PAD4 is a plug-and-play card for an extension slot of the Zennium Pro/X. It allows
connecting four different potential sense inputs for parallel impedance
measurements.
With four PAD4 add-on cards up to 16 channels synchronous measurements can
be done in parallel to the main channel.
The Zennium Pro can control one PAD4 add-on card with 4 additional parallel
sense channels. The Zennium X can control up to four PAD4 add-on cards with up
to 16 additional parallel sense channels.
Connection scheme for 4 channel PAD4 with a 5 cell battery stack. The maximum
input voltage of each PAD4 channel is limited to ±4 V with a compliance voltage
range of ±100V. The output voltage and current is limited by the electrochemical
workstation. For example the Zennium has a compliance voltage of ±14 V.

PAD4 -4-
Connection scheme for 8 channel PAD4 with an external power potentiostat PP211
(20 V / 10 A) connected via EPC42 to an IM6.

PAD4 -5-
The PAD4 AD converter card is also compatible with a 3rd party electronic load
interfaced from the IM6/Zennium by means of the FRA-Probe.
1.1 Packing List
PAD4 addon card
4 sense cables (Lemosa plug to blue & green twisted cables)
This manual

PAD4 -6-
2PAD4: Technical Data
2.1 PAD4-HC Specifications
Socket:
4x Lemosa EGA.0B.307.CLL
Input Impedance:
100 KΩ
Input Range:
±4 V (standard configuration)
±5 V, ±10 V, ±12 V, ±20 V or ±24 V on demand
Offset Voltage:
±1.0 mV ±0.1% full scale
Common Mode Range:
±100 V
Frequency Range:
10 µHz - 250 KHz
Resolution:
18 bit
Input AC Voltage Resolution
500 nV @ 4 mV AC amplitude
Maximum PAD4 Supported
1 (ZENNIUM PRO)
4 (ZENNIUM X)
2.2 PAD4-LC Specifications
Socket:
4x Lemosa EGA.0B.307.CLL
Input Impedance:
50 KΩ
Input Range:
±1 V
Offset Voltage:
±0.25 mV ±0.1% full scale
Common Mode Range:
±25 V
Frequency Range:
10 µHz - 250 KHz
Resolution:
18 bit
Input AC Voltage Resolution
125 nV @ 4 mV AC amplitude
Maximum PAD4 Supported
1 (ZENNIUM PRO)
4 (ZENNIUM X)

PAD4 -7-
2.3 PAD4-HZ Specifications
Socket:
4x Lemosa EGA.0B.307.CLL
Input Impedance:
>100 GΩ
Input Range:
2x ±5 V
2x ±1 V
Offset Voltage:
±1.0 mV ±0.1% full scale
Common Mode Range:
2x ±10 V (±5 V range inputs)
2x ±2 V (±1 V range inputs)
Frequency Range:
10 µHz - 250 KHz
Resolution:
18 bit
Input AC Voltage Resolution
2x 625 nV @ 4 mV AC amplitude
1x 125 nV @ 4 mV AC amplitude
Maximum PAD4 Supported
1 (ZENNIUM PRO)
4 (ZENNIUM X)
2.4 PAD4 Input Jack Pinout
2.4.1 2-Pole LEMO Jack (effective until July 2015)
1: upper connector female: + green
(reference electrode)
2: lower connector male: - blue
(working electrode sense)
corresponding connector:
LEMO push-pull connector
FFA.0S.302.CLAC32

PAD4 -8-
2.4.2 7-Pole LEMOSA Jack (effective from August 2015)
1: + green (reference electrode)
2: not connected
3: -5 V supply
4: +5 V supply
5: not connected
6: - blue (working electrode sense)
7: GND supply
!
Note: ±5 V supply (pin 3,4,7) only required by
CIMPS-MDTR photosense preamplifier.
corresponding connector:
LEMO push-pull connector
FGA.0B.307.CLAD56

PAD4 -9-
3Configuration
Click on the Z icon at the upper left edge
of the Thales software window and
switch to Control Potentiostat page.
Click on Check Cell Connections.
The Thales software detects the PAD4
cards automatically and shows the
button Parallel Impedance Setup. Click
on that button to switch to Synchronous
Parallel Measurements page.

PAD4 -10-
DC voltage displays
Select PAD4 input type meaning
Setup customized input potential ranges
Select channel for AC display.
Activate/deactivate PAD4 channels.
Enable activated channels for EIS.
PAD4 calibration only for.
3.1 Select PAD4 Channel for AC Voltage Display
Select channel for EIS AC
voltage display
green: main potentiostat
red: selected PAD4 channel
3.2 Select PAD4 Channels for EIS Measurement
Activate PAD4 channels for
EIS measurements and enable
impedance measurement.
!
Note: PAD4 channels are
only measured when
impedance is enabled.

PAD4 -11-
3.3 PAD4 Calibration
Offset voltages can slightly drift when
the system warms up. This will be
calibrated automatically after a few
seconds.
To activate Calibration button press
button 2 (number two) of your
keyboard to highlight the calibration
icon and press ENTER to show the
Calibration menu. Select DC Offset &
Gain to perform a DC calibration.
!
Note: Calibration is
only allowed for
service personal.
For DC and AC
calibration
reference elements
are required.
3.4 Setup Customized Input Ranges
The standard input range of the
PAD4 addon cards is ±4 V. This
range can be increased with
adapted sense cables including
additional input resistors on
customer demand.
This input range list normalizes
non standard input ranges for
correct impedance analysis.
In current mode, the input range
list is defined as a shunt resistor
list of the used I/U converter.
!
Note: Special sense
cables with additional
input resistances are
always customized
solutions. This range
extension reduce the
common mode rejection
of the input channels and
therefore the signal noise
ratio.
3.5 Setup PAD4 Mode
The standard mode of PAD4
input channel is voltage mode.
When using current voltage
converter frontends the PAD4
channels can be configured to
current mode. The current
range is set in range list
(chapter 3.4) as a shunt
resistor value. The input signal
is still limited to the ±4 V range.
!
Note: A current voltage
converter probe is
required for this mode.

PAD4 -12-
4Parallel Impedance Measurements
If PAD4 channels are activated and
impedance is enabled EIS and FRA
measurements are automatically done
for all activated channels. For detailed
information refer to EIS manual.
Realtime AC voltage display
green: main potentiostat
red: selected PAD4 channel
Data display, realtime frequency
domain displays and numerical displays
only show measure data of the main
potentiostat channel.
A realtime impedance plot of the PAD4
channels during measurement can
easily be done with the Online Display.
Select PAD4 channels (impedance
[C01..C16], phase[C01..C16])

PAD4 -13-
Save measured EIS data. Please refer
to EIS manual.
Each single spectrum is saved
individually so that you may analyse it
individually or in the context of the
complete parallel measurement.
The file name of each spectrum is
complemented by a two-digit number
which specifies the number of the
PAD4 channel (00: main channel).
If any of the file names to be created
already exist, you will be asked for
overwriting the files or cancel saving.
The PAD4 channels can be customized of a voltage range of ±4 V, ±5 V, ±10 V,
±12 V, ±20 V, and ±24 V. The compliance voltage range is also different for PAD4
with different voltage ranges. The compliance voltage range of a PAD4 channel
can be calculated by the equation below
Compliance voltage range (V) = PAD4 voltage range (V) * 25.

PAD4 -14-
5Parallel Impedance Analysis
Click on the Z icon at the upper left
edge of the Thales software window
and navigate to EIS Analysis “SIM”.
Select open series measurements.
Select first impedance spectra
measurement [filename]00.ism to open
the hole parallel measurement data.
Click on the Display Diagram button to
display the diagram of the loaded and
selected parallel EIS data.
For further information on analysis
parallel impedance data please refer to
SIM manual.

PAD4 -15-
6DC Measurements and Signal Acquisition
Select/deselect input channel for
acquisition display.
Edit or create input channel.
Shows order of display data.
Acquire data page.
Here you can switch on/off acquisition
data for all methods (logging on/off).
6.1 Create ACQ Channels for PAD4
Select “Edit Input” and click into the table
below to open channel definition box.
channel: [2..17] for PAD4 channel [1..16]
module: 13 (fixed value)
meaning: title for the ACQ channel
unit: unit of the channel data
display format: -#.#####
order: 1 for linear input signals (common)
gain:
- voltage mode: gain= voltage
range/4 example: gain=1 for ±4 V
inputs
- current mode: gain= 1/shunt
resistor value
example: gain=1e-2 for 100R shunt
Hint: Input channels can be deleted by
typing in channel # 0 and confirm input
box.