Next generation multi-channel data-acquisition recorders helps drive for renewable energy

Yokogawa Test & Measurement has added another new instrument to its ScopeCorder family of portable multi-channel data-acquisition recorders, extending and improving their speed, channel count and data acquisition features.

As society increasingly looks to cut energy wastage and improve the energy efficiency of facilities such as data centres, manufacturers are looking to develop more energy efficient and renewable energy sources.  Yokogawa’s DL950 is designed to offer manufacturers a highly detailed view of an application’s electrical behaviour.

Uses for the DL950 in the power and energy sector include capturing data on renewable energy systems. Combined with Yokogawa’s power analyser and 8-channel oscilloscope,  developers can easily analyse the behaviour of solutions such as power grids, generators and power conditioners.

Providing a unique combination of the high-speed sampling and signal fidelity of an oscilloscope and the long-term data recording capabilities of a recorder, the DL950 measures signals at a high bit resolution while securing data in the harshest of environments. Building on the capabilities of the well-established DL850E, the new DL950 ScopeCorder can handle larger amounts of data at a faster sample rate and with a longer recording time. It has a large acquisition memory up to 8 Gpoint, and a 200 MS/s sample rate at 14-bit, compared to the DL850E’s 100 MS/s at 12-bit. This is twice the sample rate but with much more detail. The DL950 can run up to 32 isolated analogue channels with 10 MS/s at 16-bit or up to 128 digital channels.

This provides a complete solution for developers in electric power markets and contributes to the further advancement and development of technology.

The DL950 ScopeCorder provides developers with a high degree of insight into the behaviour of these systems by capturing and analysing a wide variety of electrical signals, mechanical performance parameters indicated by sensors and decoded serial bus signals.

The dual capture feature offers both data acquisition recorder functionality and the sample speed and trigger features of an oscilloscope. This allows developers to analyse the finest waveform details while observing multi-channel measurements over longer periods. The DL950 offers five options for acquiring data, allowing users to choose the best method for their application. They can opt for normal acquisition into the fast internal acquisition memory, recording to flash memory (coming soon), recording to the internal hard disk (SSD) or directly to the PC via normal Ethernet or opt for 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

 Data can be captured to a PC streaming over a very long time at up to 160 MB/s, with data volumes limited only by the PC’s storage size. Using 10 Gigabit Ethernet, data can be transferred from the DL950 to a PC at 50 times the speed of its predecessor. A fibre optic cord and the Yokogawa’s IS8000 PC software are used for transmission.

The DL950 will also feature Flash Acquisition (coming soon), used to store data when a PC cannot be used, for example when capturing data from, power plant or other similar application. In these applications the unit would usually need to be switched off before moving it to an office to save data on a PC. Using Flash Acquisition, data can be captured over a long time with a high-speed sample rate of 20 MS/s (8CH) and 10 MS/s (16CH).

The 512GB internal SSD can record up to 50 days. Depending on the sample rate it can record for five hours on one channel at up to 2 MS/s, or record at 200 kS/s for 20 hours with 16 channels. Waveforms from dual capture can also be recorded, useful for capturing rare spontaneous events.

The DL950 provides ultimate versatility, as it can be connected to 21 types of input modules. These include 12-, 14- and 16-bit isolation modules, universal voltage/temperature modules, acceleration/voltage modules, strain modules and frequency modules.

Up to five DL950s can also be synchronised to allow the use of up to 160 voltage channels. Alternatively, up to 640 temperature channels can be used, employing 16 channels with eight slots for each of five DL950 units. The subunits can be synchronised to start and stop their measurements via signals from the main unit.

The DL950 is also easy to use via a large 12.1 inch touch screen, providing convenient access to its wealth of features. Yokogawa’s power analyzers and a selection of other instruments can be time synchronised through the device’s integrated IEEE1588 PTP master function and the IS8000 Integrated Software Platform. The units can also be controlled remotely, allowing home workers to continue conducting tests while working away from the test laboratory.

Dedicated application menus simplify the setup. Touching an application icon brings up the graphical setup screen for the application, while users can also register frequently used applications as favourites.

“With the DL950, the already excellent ScopeCorder family attains new levels of data acquisition speed and greatly improved usability”, says Terry Marrinan, Yokogawa Test & Measurement’s Vice President for Europe & South East Asia: “Offering the versatility to discover more from a large number of input types, the insight available from a high bit resolution and a high level usability from easy set-up, the DL950 gives developers the tools they need to gain detailed information on the behaviour of energy efficient and new renewable energy technologies and devices.”