Operating Instructions, Overview

3OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

This chapter presents detailed instructions on the operation of the 9700.

Overview

The 9700 provides digitally controlled, single shot, current pulses. The current is provided by a 3700mF capacitor bank charged to approximately 44V. The ability of the instrument to maintain the requested current will be load dependent, limited by the voltage and the stored energy. Thus the output pulse is energy limited by the amount of energy stored on the capacitor bank (CV2/2 = 36.2 Joules). Long pulses or large loads will result in droop at the end of the pulse as the capacitor bank discharges. The table below shows the maximum droop free pulsewidth as a function of resistance and current.

MAXIMUM CONSTANT CURRENT PULSEWIDTH (ms)*

		CURRENT (A)
RESISTANCE (ohms)	1	2	5	10

1	1,090	525	190	75

2	1,060	500	160	50

5	990	425	90	--
10	860	300	--	--

The current in the Model 9700 is controlled by a high-side power mosfet. Care should be taken when making connections. A switch is provided for each channel to disconnect the load from the capacitor bank.

The 9700 uses a single-line LCD to display menu selections. The front panel keys are used to “navigate” through sets of menus to set various options and control the current pulse generator. Some keys are only active at certain times or have different behavior depending on what state the menus are in -- once understood, the menus can be quickly and easily manipulated. The 9700 also contains non-volatile memory for storing up to twelve (12) configurations, so you need not go through the entire setup process each time the instrument is used.