MX CTS Series

A growing number of electronic products manufactured today have to meet international regulatory requirements for emissions and immunity. This is particularly true for products sold in the European community as well as a growing list of countries in the Far East. The California Instruments MXCTS System provides a cost-effective test solution aimed at verifying higher power product compliance to a number of AC and DC related harmonized test standards. The MXCTS system offers many of the same features and capabilities of the California Instruments CTS Series product line already in use at many EMC labs around the world.

Compliance Testing to:

• EN / IEC 61000-3-12 (-CTSH, -CTSHL) Harmonics, < 75 Arms/phase
• EN / IEC 61000-3-11 (-CTSH, -CTSHL) Flicker Measurement, < 75 Arms/phase
• EN / IEC 61000-3-2 (-CTSL, -CTSHL) Harmonics - Including Am 14, < 16 Arms/Phase
• EN / IEC 61000-3-3 (-CTSL, -CTSHL) Flicker Measurement, < 16 Arms/phase
• EN / IEC 61000-4-13 (option) Harmonics & Interharmonics Immunity (option)
• EN / IEC 61000-4-14 AC Voltage Fluctuations
• EN / IEC 61000-4-17 DC Ripple
• EN / IEC 61000-4-28 Frequency Variations

Pre-compliance Testing to:

• EN / IEC 61000-4-11 (option) AC Voltage Dips and Variations (option)
• EN / IEC 61000-4-27 Three phase AC Voltage Unbalance
• EN / IEC 61000-4-29 DC Voltage Dips and Interruptions

NPL Certified Compliance The MXCTS System is based on the same technology deployed in the California Instruments CTS series products. The CTS series has been certified by the National Physics Laboratory (NPL) in the United Kingdom for full compliance with the IEC Harmonics and Flicker standards. The NPL is an independent test laboratory and a recognized authority on AC calibration.

Key Features

• Direct PC bus access data acquisition system provides the required sampling rate and resolution to meet IEC 61000-4-7 measurement requirements and supports high speed data transfers, unlike competing IEC test systems which provide only limited throughput using IEEE-488.
• PC based Harmonic and Flicker test software provides real-time full color data display updates and continuous PASS/FAIL monitoring.
• Automatic calculation of the maximum permissible system impedance Zsys, using the Zref and measured Flicker parameters, as required per EN/IEC 61000-3-11.
• Simple user operation under Windows provides IEC test setup, data analysis, display and MS Word test reports.
• High resolution, no gap acquisition data storage to ensure that all data can be streamed to disk (in ASCII format if needed) for later review and replay of actual test.
• Single Step and Fast playback mode of test results 

AC Power Source
The MXCTS System was designed to be used in conjunction with the MX45- 3Pi AC and DC power source. The MX45-3Pi provides up to 62.5 ARMS per phase for high power harmonics and Flicker testing. All MX45-3Pi Series AC sources offer arbitrary waveform generation, precision measurements, and waveform analysis capabilities. Refer to the MX Series data sheet for detailed information on the MX Series’ capabilities and features.

The MX45-3Pi not only supports high power harmonics and flicker emissions test but can also be used for a range of IEC 61000-4 AC immunity standards (certain options may be required, see ordering information for details).

Direct PC Data Acquisition
A high speed digital signal processor based data acquisition system is used to implement the required IEC compliance measurement system. Direct access to the PC bus ensures a much higher data throughput capability than typically found in single box IEC test systems that use the IEEE- 488 instrumentation bus to communicate with the PC. This architecture offers several advantages, not the least of which is the ability to support future versions of test standards by merely installing new PC software. This greatly reduces the risk of product obsolescence as test standards evolve. Furthermore, since the data is streamed to hard disk in real-time, a complete data record is created each time, which may be used for audit purposes, further analysis or to prove compliance to the test standard. A special signal conditioning and isolation unit (PACS-3-75) is used to provide quick and easy connection between the AC source output and the Equipment Under Test. This unit provides the required isolation, signal conditioning and anti-alias filtering for the measurement system. The equipment under test is wired to a rear panel mounted terminal block.

Harmonics Analyzer
A key part of the MXCTS system is the IEC compliant power analyzer which provides detailed information on both voltage and current. Measurements of both harmonics and interharmonics are made in real-time with no measurement gaps to fully conform to the latest revision of the IEC 61000-4-7 test standard. AC source voltage and EUT power are monitored continuously during the entire test. Voltage distortion and current harmonic data is checked against IEC class limits for pass or fail detection. Comprehensive test reports can be generated easily. Test limits are retained in a password protected database and can be updated if needed in the future without the need to change software. Other software changes as a result of changing IEC harmonics standards can be accomplished by simply installing new PC software. No harmonics testing software resides

Flicker Reference Impedance
An IEC 868 compliant Flicker meter is an integral part of the -CTSM system. The IEC 725 required reference impedance is implemented using a lumped impedance capable of handling 75 A RMS per phase. Due to the high amount of dissipation that occurs at these power levels, the OMNI-3-75 is housed in a 43” cabinet. This same cabinet is used to mount the PACS-3-75 unit. The lumped impedance is designed for testing to the IEC 61000-3-11 Flicker standard. For IEC 61000-3-3 low power Flicker testing (< 16 ARMS), the OMNI- 3-37MX is used instead mounted in a similar 43” cabinet.(-CTSL system). A combination of both is available on the -CTSMXHL system. In this case, only one lumped impedance is in the circuit at any one time and a quick connect scheme is used to allow switching between the two lumped impedances (OMNI-3-37MX for -3-3 and OMNI-3-75 for -3-11).