Posted to News on 10th Jan 2013, 09:18
Versatile digital power meters offer high performance
Yokogawa Test & Measurement is launching the WT300 series of digital power meters, the fifth generation of the company's popular compact digital power meters. Such instruments play a key role in ensuring optimum standards of energy efficiency and energy conservation by measuring the power consumption of electrical equipment.
Combining accurate and reliable power measurement over a wide power range, with flexibility, ease of use and a choice of communication interfaces, the new WT300 instruments will help developers and manufacturers of electrical equipment - ranging from domestic 'white goods' to lighting systems and air-conditioning equipment - to ensure that their products comply with emerging IEC and EN standards and increasingly complex and stringent specifications for energy efficiency.
Terry Marrinan, Yokogawa's Vice President of Test & Measurement for Europe & Africa, comments: "With almost 100 years of expertise in precision measurement, Yokogawa provides the widest possible range of trustworthy test solutions. Our earlier ranges of power meters - particularly the hugely successful WT200 - are helping customers across a wide range of industries, and we believe that this new range will continue the process of exceeding our customers' expectations for quality, accuracy and ease of use."
Key features of the new instruments include a basic accuracy of 0.1 per cent of reading, guaranteed accuracy over the entire measurement range (from 1 per cent to 130 per cent), a wide measurement range from standby power levels of a few milliamperes up to the 40A currents used in induction cookers, and versatility for use in many different technical and commercial applications.
This versatility includes a range of communications interfaces, enabling the WT300 digital power meters to be integrated into laboratory test benches or automated test set-ups on production lines. USB and GPIB or RS232 is fitted as standard, and Ethernet is available as an option.
Saving time
In addition to standard power measurements, the new meters offer a wide range of harmonic measurement capabilities, including the ability to carry out simultaneous measurement of normal power parameters such as RMS, mean or DC power along with measurement of harmonics up to the 50th order. As a result, overall measurement times are reduced, so users can allocate their effort and time to other tasks.
The guaranteed accuracy of the new power meters results from the fact that Yokogawa has its own European standards laboratory at its European headquarters in The Netherlands. This facility is claimed to be the only industrial (ie non-government or national) organisation to offer traceable power calibration, to national and international standards, at frequencies up to 100kHz, which is a requirement for higher harmonic measurements specified in quality standards such as ISO 9000.
Other features of the new instruments include a bandwidth of DC and 0.5Hz to 100kHz (up to 20kHz for 40A on the WT310HC), plus an auto-range function for measurement and integration.
Software is also available for testing equipment compliance to industry energy-saving standards such as IEC 62301 Ed2.0 and IEC 62018 for standby mode equipment or for dealing with waveforms having a crest factor of 5 or more.
Yokogawa claims to be the world's largest manufacturer of power meters and analysers. The WT300 series of digital power meters are the latest addition to the company's wide range, delivering guaranteed power accuracy from the compact WT300 to the highest precision WT3000.
Follow the link for more information about the WT300 series digital power meters.
