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ZAHNER EL1002 Operation Manual

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Electronic
Load
EL1002
(Operation Manual)
24/07/2023

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Summary of Contents for ZAHNER EL1002

  • Page 1 Electronic Load EL1002 (Operation Manual) 24/07/2023...
  • Page 2 Electronic Load – EL1002...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    6.3 Two-electrode cell connection scheme ......... 20 6.4 Parasitic inductances ................ 21 7 Connection configurations ..............24 7.1 Applications for the EL1002 without external devices ....25 7.1.1 Full cell configuration (standard Kelvin scheme) ...... 25 7.1.2 Half-cell configuration – Cathode ..........27 7.1.3 Half-cell configuration –...
  • Page 4 7.3.1 DUT connected to the EL1002 with an additional DC load through EXT+ ..................31 7.3.2 DUT connected to the EL1002 with a parallel DC load ..33 7.4 Applications with an additional power supply in series ....35 7.4.1 Electrolysis / charging batteries ..........35 7.4.2 Compensation for voltage drop (zero-volt option) ....

  • Page 5: Electronic Load El1002

    1 Electronic load EL1002 Zahner products are carefully manufactured, calibrated and tested to ensure our high-quality standard. Packing of the electronic load EL1002 and accessories is done with great care to avoid damage during transport. Upon receipt of the Zahner shipment, please check the device and accessories to make sure they are intact.

  • Page 6: Caution

    During operation, the potential directly on the positive (+) terminal of the EL1002 should be at least 1 V higher than the negative (–) terminal. Always turn ON the EL1002 after turning on the external load or the external power supply (if any is connected).
  • Page 7 The maximum current through the shunt/current measurement unit of the EL1002 must never exceed 680 A. The current cables from EL1002 to the test object must be as short and thick as possible. During EL1002 start up and calibration, do not sink external DC current.

  • Page 8: Introduction

    (PEM) and solid oxide (SO) fuel cells. The EL1002 allows for power dissipation of up to 1 kW in terms of voltages up to 100 V and currents up to 200 A. In combination with a third-party instrument (electronic loads or sources), measurements at higher currents (up to 680 A) can be carried out.

  • Page 9: Epc42 Controller Card

    An EPC42 card has 4 connection ports by which up to 4 external devices (PP2X2, XPOT2, EL1002) can be connected. Up to four EPC42 cards can be installed in a ZENNIUM series potentiostat. Therefore, a total of up to 16 external devices (PP2X2, XPOT2, EL1002) can be connected to a ZENNIUM series potentiostat with four EPC42 cards.

  • Page 10: Stand-Alone Mode

    Electronic Load – EL1002 3.2 Stand-alone mode Zahner’s power potentiostats or electronic loads (PP2X2, XPOT2, EL1002) can also be operated in stand-alone mode, for which a Windows 10/11 or Linux computer is necessary. For software updates, Windows 10/11 is required and the use of a virtual machine is not permitted.

  • Page 11: Operation Basics

    -10- 4 Operation basics The EL1002 electronic load is a one quadrant potentiostat. This means that it can sink (but cannot source) current in a fixed, given polarity. Hence, when the EL1002 is connected to a battery, it can only discharge the battery, while charging is not possible without a third-party source.

  • Page 12: Conductor Rails

    Always connect the negative (–) pole i.e., anode of a battery with the – terminal of the EL1002 and the positive (+) pole i.e., cathode of a battery with the + terminal. If the DUT is connected to the EL1002 using wrong polarity, the polarity error LED will light up.

  • Page 13: Safety Interlock

    The EL1002 is equipped with various signal and warning LEDs on the front panel as well as a buzzer. The status LED lights up green when the CPU of the EL1002 is running and the device is ready for use. When the CPU is busy with a task or command, the status LED lights up orange.

  • Page 14: Operation Steps

    -13- 4.2 Operation steps Turn ON external power supply/load (if it is planned to be used). 2. Turn ON the ZENNIUM device as well as the EL1002 and allow for 30 minutes of warm-up time. 3. Start the Thales software.
  • Page 15 Electronic Load – EL1002 -14- ⚠ Do not sink external DC current during EL1002 start up and calibration. No current is allowed to flow through the current measuring device, otherwise it will be calibrated as an offset.

  • Page 16: Thales Software

    After confirming, the device is selected and the type of device is displayed. Fig. 4: Selecting an external potentiostat in the test sampling window. DEVICE 1: EL1002 indicates that the EL1002 is connected to the port 1 of the EPC42 card.
  • Page 17 In “check cell connections” one can set the desired potential range (4 V / 100 V) and may choose a reference electrode. For convenience, the EL1000 connection scheme with the third-party DC load is shown in Fig. 6 (same for EL1002).
  • Page 18 EL1002 is positive. When changing the device number, the now unselected external potentiostat or EL1002 will hold its DC conditions such as DC potential or current and its on/off status until the settings are changed again. Voltage and current outputs of the unselected external potentiostat are not measured and are not monitored for defined voltage/current limits.

  • Page 19: Cell Connection Fundamentals

    (CE) wires. The voltage is measured between the green (RE) and blue (WES) wires. For high current flow, the 4-electrode connection scheme is highly recommended to minimize the error margin in the measurement, especially when using the EL1002. 6.1 Contact resistance Fig.

  • Page 20: Four-Electrode Cell Connection Scheme

    In this chapter, images from the ZENNIUM potentiostat are used for the sake of simplicity and to explain the two and four electrode connection scheme. When working with EL1002, the BNC connectors of the ZENNIUM potentiostat shall be left unconnected and should not be connected to the test object.

  • Page 21: Two-Electrode Cell Connection Scheme

    Electronic Load – EL1002 -20- ∗ ( ���� ) + ���� ���� = ���� + ���� ∗ ���� + ���� ∗ ���� ������������ ������������ ���� ���� �������� ���� ���� ���������������� ����������������������������−�������� ���� ���������������� ����������������������������−������������ ���� ���������������� higher than ���� ), the input current ����...

  • Page 22: Parasitic Inductances

    EL1002 to the object. Two of these wires are attached to each other by cable ties to minimize the mutual inductance. Theoretically, twisting the cables around each other is the most preferable configuration as the magnetic fields are mutually compensated (canceled out), most effectively.
  • Page 23 Electronic Load – EL1002 -22- Fig. 12: Impedance spectra of 1 m (solid lines) and 2 m (dashed lines) connected wire pairs (70 mm in Bode representation. The fitting results for the 1 m wire pair read as 828 µΩ resistance and 529 nH inductance.
  • Page 24 1 V between the EL1002’s + and – terminals. If the voltage falls below 1 V, the control loop of the EL1002 will not work properly, causing collapsed amplitude and/or distorted excitation signal (current or voltage).

  • Page 25: Connection Configurations

    4. For the sake of convenience and simplicity, we will distinguish the current between the + and – terminals of the EL1002 denoted as I from the current between the EXT+ and – terminals of the EL1002 denoted as i.

  • Page 26: Applications For The El1002 Without External Devices

    EL1002 measures the potential with the sense cables and will always display the correct voltage of the DUT, here -3 V. However, the potential between the terminals of the EL1002 will be less than 3 V. This decrease (Fig. 14, b) is caused by the voltage drop (U...
  • Page 27 EL1002 part of the DC current: 40 A EL1002 AC amplitude: 5 A EL1002 power dissipation: 9 V * 45 A = 405 W (<1000 W) The power dissipation in EL1002 is limited to 1000 W. The voltage used to calculate the power dissipation is the one that drops across the current controller in Fig.

  • Page 28: Half-Cell Configuration - Cathode

    Electronic Load – EL1002 -27- 7.1.2 Half-cell configuration – Cathode This configuration is used with DUTs such as (rechargeable) batteries and fuel cells if only the cathodic part of the cell is to be investigated. Fig. 16: Half-cell configuration - Cathode In this case, the sense cables are only connected to the cathode and not to the complete cell.

  • Page 29: Partial Cell Configuration

    Electronic Load – EL1002 -28- 7.1.4 Partial cell configuration This configuration can be used if a certain part of a battery or fuel cell stack is to be investigated. Fig. 18: Partial cell configuration...

  • Page 30: General Notes For Applications With External Supply Or Load

    7.2 General notes for applications with external supply or load ⚠ During the startup and calibration of the EL1002, do not sink external DC current. No current is allowed to flow through the EL1002 otherwise, it will be calibrated as an offset.
  • Page 31 -30- To avoid errors with this more advanced setup involving an external source or sink, it is a good idea to automate the measurement process. To control the EL1002 and a power supply with Python, we provide an example on...

  • Page 32: Applications With An Additional Dc Load

    I ≥ 0. The external load must operate in constant current mode. The current flow cannot be switched off by the EL1002 in this configuration, as it is also dependent on the external device, which is controlled separately.
  • Page 33 Electronic Load – EL1002 -32- It is recommended to test different DC currents with the EL1002 because the ratio of DC to AC current may affect the bandwidth of the EIS measurement or cause interference with harmonics, depending on the setup. A good starting value for the...

  • Page 34: Dut Connected To The El1002 With A Parallel Dc Load

    EL1002 power dissipation: 9 V * 25 A = 225 W (<1000 W) The power dissipation in EL1002 is limited to 1000 W. Fig. 21: One-quadrant representation of a battery or fuel cell connected to the EL1002 and a parallel external load.
  • Page 35 Electronic Load – EL1002 -34- Thales only measures and displays the current through the EL1002. In impedance measurements, the external load is also seen as a parallel object to the DUT. This makes the impedance spectrum recorded in this configuration, prone to artifacts.

  • Page 36: Applications With An Additional Power Supply In Series

    In this application, the voltage source must be connected as low inductively as possible to avoid artifacts. 7.4.1 Electrolysis / charging batteries For charging batteries or electrolysis, an EL1002 is connected in series with a DUT (i.e., an inversed battery) and an external power supply. Charging batteries: This configuration is used for experiments on batteries under charging conditions.
  • Page 37 + and – terminals of EL1002. Here the potential difference between the + and – terminals of the EL1002 is lower than 1 V. A simple schematic in Fig. 23c is also shown below to clearly indicate the connection scheme of the (reversed) battery to the EL1002 and the external source.

  • Page 38: Compensation For Voltage Drop (Zero-Volt Option)

    If a current value is set in the galvanostatic mode of the EL1002 at which the voltage drop exceeds the fuel cell potential, the current value will not build up.
  • Page 39 Electronic Load – EL1002 -38- (Fig. 26b). This keeps the output potential between the + and – terminals of EL1002 positive ( ), and allows for high current experiments. > 1 V Fig. 25: Compensation of the voltage drop in a system using an external power supply.

  • Page 40: Applications With An Additional Power Supply In Parallel Using The Ext+ Terminal

    Discharging: current through DUT is POSITIVE The current flow cannot be switched off by the EL1002 in this configuration, as it is also dependent on the external device which is controlled separately. Fig. 27: Cable connection scheme of EL1002 with additional DC supply using EXT+ terminal.

  • Page 41: Charging

    Electronic Load – EL1002 -40- It is recommended to use as short and thick cables as possible between the EL1002 and the DUT. Also, twist the cables around each other as much as possible to minimize mutual induction. It is recommended to use long and untwisted cables between the EL1002 and the power supply.

  • Page 42: Discharging

    EL1002 must be higher than the AC amplitude for the EIS. The AC current between the + and – terminals of the EL1002 is only allowed in one direction (from + to –) and is therefore flowing in reversed direction with respect to the charging current.

  • Page 43: State Of Charge (Soc)

    The 100 A current flowing to the + terminal of the EL1002 will be used as buffer current for the EIS and will eventually be sinked in EL1002. Here, if the EL1002 is turned off, the power supply will start charging the DUT at a charging current of 80 A.

  • Page 44: Summary Parallel Power Supply With Pad4

    EIS excitation. DC current provided by the external power supply should be higher than the AC amplitude used for EIS excitation. Here, if the EL1002 is turned off, the power supply will start charging the DUT at a charging current of 80 A In all three configurations of section 7.5 (charging, discharging and SOC) everything...

  • Page 45: Specifications

    Electronic Load – EL1002 -44- 8 Specifications The following section lists the specifications of the EL1002. 8.1 Ranges and tolerances Voltage Ranges Voltage Range Range Standalone [V] Range Thales [V] Tolerance Index Factor -5.0 -4.0 ±500 µV ±0.1% of reading...

  • Page 46: General Specifications

    Impedance Range 1 µΩ - 100 Ω Impedances below 10 mΩ must be measured galvanostatically. EL1002 is optimized for galvanostatic operation on objects below 1 Ω. The device is not intended for Ohmic inductive objects. ²Hardware feature will be unlocked in the future by a free software update.

  • Page 47: Safe Operation Conditions

    -46- 8.3 Safe operation conditions The maximum power dissipation (sink) of the EL1002 is 1000 W. Fig. 3 is important for determining the power dissipation, which can be simply calculated by the formula P = U * I. It is important to always use the correct voltage and current that applies for the specific setup.

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