For powering some DC motors, you can add variable output with an LM317, controlled by a potmeter. Although an ATX power supply should have a short-circuit protection built in, you can add output fuses as a safety measure. Make a case with plexiglass as it is nice to see the cable management inside.
In the same way you can combine LTC3780, which is a powerful 130W step-up/step-down converter, with a 12V 5A power supply to create an adjustable lab bench power supply in the range of 0.8V-29.4V and 0.3A-5A approximately.
You may add any standard make microcontroller and LCD to make it look like a modern power supply.
The future
Design and validation engineers need to power their DUTs safely and easily during manual tests or automated sequences. They are frequently under pressure to perform tests quickly, and their test benches are often crowded.
“Our customers told us they want a Keysight-quality bench power supply with modern I/O, a compact footprint and excellent bench usability,” says Kari Fauber, general manager, Keysight’s Power and Energy Division. “We built the E36100 series to meet the needs of R&D and design validation engineers who face increasing pressures to produce high-quality designs quickly and who want to power their devices with confidence,” he adds.
The E36100 series adds five new models with up to 100V or 5A output to Keysight’s extensive portfolio of bench power supplies. Its compact form factor (2U, ¼-rack) saves space on the bench or in the rack, and standard LAN (LXI Core) and USB interfaces make it easy to connect the power supplies to a computer. An intuitive onscreen menu system makes it easy for engineers to perform manual tasks quickly, and over-voltage and over-current detection helps them protect their DUTs.
E36100 series models come standard with measurement capability for very small currents, a high-contrast OLED display that makes it easy to view the screen from anywhere, even from sharp angles, support for BenchVue software, IVI drivers and SCPI commands, three-year warranty and Keysight’s worldwide support.
PeakTech’s newly-developed, linear-regulated dual-channel laboratory power supply (2 x 0-30V/0-5A DC/5V/1A fixed) with a modern design and the latest technology is provided with a blue LED display for fast and accurate reading of voltage and current values. Output voltage and current limit for the main channels are each continuously variable and can be connected independently from each other in series or parallel mode. Thus, with outputs connected in series, the maximum output voltage rises to 60V DC and outputs connected in parallel double the maximum output current to 10A DC. This device combines easy handling and high efficiency to offer universal applications in research, development, electrical engineering or training.
Biswajit Das is manager-R&D, EFY Labs
