The CPA100 measures AC and DC voltage at the output connector while simultaneously measuring the AC and DC current flowing through the internal current shunt (between input Live and output Live connectors). Oversized low tempco shunt resistors reduce thermal effects on measurements – and an internal temperature sensor further reduces drift due to temperature changes.
Simultaneous sampling (at 4KHz) of the voltage and current waveforms, the use of a highly integrated AFE (analog front end) IC and a DSP to pre-process data reduces the overhead of the host PC running EPIC software.
All measurements are carried out and calculated in parallel regardless of whether they are being displayed. At present the following are calculated.
- True RMS Voltage (VRMS)
- True RMS Current (ARMS)
- Active Power (W)
- Apparent power (VA)
- Reactive Power (VAr)
- Power Factor
- Frequency (Hz)
- Fundamental Active Power (W)
- Fundamental Reactive Power (VAr)
- Harmonic Active Power (W)
- Peak Voltage (V) – positive, negative, positive peak hold, negative peak hold
- Peak Current (A) – peak hold, positive, negative, positive peak hold, negative peak hold
- Crest Factor – both for Voltage and Current
- Active Energy (Wh)
- Apparent Energy (VAh)
- Reactive Energy (VArh)
- Elapsed Time – integration period for Energy calculations
With more measurement, triggering, display and logging functions being readied for future EPIC releases.