September 27, 2014. Hioki has announced the launch of the PW3335 power meter. The PW3335 makes AC and DC power measurements, including ones in compliance with IEC 62301, an international standard governing the measurement of standby power. Whereas the vendor's legacy 3332 Power HiTester, introduced in 1999, was limited to AC power measurement, the PW3335—an upgrade to the 3332—can measure both AC and DC components. Consequently, it can also be used to measure the power consumption of battery-driven devices and devices powered by a DC power supply such as an AC adapter. In addition, the instrument can measure the standby power of devices powered by AC adapters, a capability that is in increasing demand today.
The need to further reduce power consumption has become a common issue in the development of household appliances, electronics such as audio and video equipment, machine tools, large air conditioners, and other electrical equipment. At the same time, manufacturers are working to reduce the standby power consumption of devices such as household electronic products while they are plugged in but not operating.
Development background
IEC 62301 was enacted in 2005 and then revised in 2011 to create the second edition that is currently in force. Although it has become common today for companies to measure the standby power of industrial equipment based on this standard, standby power measurement had not yet become a widespread practice when Hioki launched the 3332 with that capability. As the importance of standby power measurement grew over time, so did the instrument's user base.
The 3332 supported AC standby power measurement since that was the principal component measured at the time of its launch, but today there are also applications in which standby power measurement includes the DC component. Hioki's development and introduction of the PW3335 was motivated by the company's desire to accommodate this shift in standby power measurement and its customers' needs in the area.
Principal applications include measurement of standby power and operating power of household appliances and electronics (audio and video equipment, white goods, air conditioners, and so on) and measurement of standby power and operating power of industrial equipment (air conditioners, machine tools, information technology systems, and so on).
PW3335 features
The PW3335 delivers basic precision of 0.15%, vs. 0,2% for the 3332. In addition, while the 3332 offered a measurement frequency band of 1 Hz to 100 kHz, the PW3335 delivers a much wider measurement frequency band of DC and 0.1 Hz to 100 kHz, adding DC and low-frequency measurement to the capabilities inherited from the legacy product.
The PW3335 ships with a range of current measurement ranges to provide coverage from 1 mA to 20 A and a current input range from 10 µA to 30 A for direct input and up to 5,000 A (AC) when using a current sensor.
Autorange integration function allows the instrument to automatically switch among appropriate measurement ranges to accommodate fluctuations that might occur, for example, when a printer awakes from a sleep mode to print a document.
The PW3335 ships standard with a harmonic analysis function and with GPIB, LAN, and other interfaces. Models with D/A output and external sensor input are also available, enabling users to choose the variant that best matches their needs.