Overheating protection
Proper ventilation is required to keep the System SourceMeter
®
instrument from overheating. Even
with proper ventilation, the instrument can overheat if the ambient temperature is too high or the
System SourceMeter
®
instrument is operated in sink mode for long periods. The instrument has an
overtemperature protection circuit that turns the output off if the instrument overheats. When the
overtemperature protection circuit turns the output off, a message indicating this condition is
displayed. You cannot turn the output on until the instrument cools down.
Power equations to avoid overheating
To avoid overheating, do not operate any channel on the instrument in a manner that forces the
instrument to exceed the maximum duty cycle (DC
MAX
), which is computed using the General power
equation (on page 5-3) below. Factors such as the ambient temperature, quadrant of operation, and
high-power pulse levels (if applicable) affect the maximum duty cycle. Exceeding the calculated
maximum duty cycle may cause the temperature protection mechanism to engage. When this
happens, an error message displays and the instrument output is disabled until the internal
temperature of the instrument is reduced to an acceptable level.
You do not have to be concerned about overheating if the following conditions are true:
• The instrument is used as a power source and not a power sink.
• The ambient temperature is ≤ 30 °C.
• Extended operating area pulsing is not being performed.
However, if any one of these is false, the instrument may overheat if operated in a manner that
exceeds the calculated maximum duty cycle, DC
MAX
.
The maximum duty cycle equation is derived from the power equation below by solving for
DC
MAX
.
The general power equation describes how much power an instrument channel can source and sink
before the total power cannot be fully dissipated by the cooling system of the instrument. This
equation incorporates all the factors that can influence the power dissipated by the instrument.
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