Troubleshooting Distributed Power Systems (Part 2): Impedance Is The Critical Measurement

Focus:

Whether your goal is to optimize system performance or to troubleshoot issues in distributed power systems, impedance measurement is an indispensable tool. That’s because there is a direct correlation between impedance, which is a highly observable characteristic, and two key measures of system performance—noise and stability. In this 10-minute video, Sandler discusses the value of impedance measurements and demonstrates their usefulness with two examples: one using vendor-supplied data for a voltage reference and another using ADS-generated data for a second-order control loop. As Sandler explains, analysis based on impedance measurements can more thoroughly assess control-loop stability than Bode plot measurements, and can do so more conveniently for control loops that are hard-to-access in system, and for devices (like some voltage regulators) that do not allow access to the feedback path. This video is part 2 of an ongoing series.

What you’ll learn:

• How to understand the value of impedance measurements in distributed power systems and in power conversion in general
• How to understand the shortcomings of Bode plots as a measure of power supply stability and control loop stability in general

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Author & Publication:

Steve Sandler, AEi Systems and Picotest, Phoenix, Ariz, How2Power Today, Jun 14 2013

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