The instrument sports some of the best noise, linearity and acquisition speeds in the industry. With R&S custom ASICs, the instrument provides hardware accelerated time & frequency domain measurements (FFTs) as well as a unique Zone Triggering mechanic. This video focuses on the teardown of the acquisition board as well as several demos of the Zone Triggering feature.
In this episode Shahriar takes a look at another eBay purchase. The Associated Research Model 7854 Dielectric Analyzer was sold as a broken item. However, it was missing the critical high voltage PCB all together. Luckily, IKONIX America sells individual boards making the repair possible:
After the board replacement, the unit is up and running! AC, DC and GND tests are verified to be accurate and functional. A 1000V capacitor is pushed to failure point and the dielectric breakdown is verified by unraveling the capacitor layer by layer.
In this quick episode Shahriar repairs an HP 34420A. This 7.5 Digit meter is specialized for making low voltage & low resistance measurements. In 4W mode, it can provide excellent resistance measurements in the micro-Ohm range.
This unit does not make any measurements on Channel 1 while Channel 2 reports the correct readings. An overview of the front-end schematics points to the likely culprit: the solid-state relays responsible for channel switching. After replacing the components the instruments returns to normal. Despite its age and the this repair, voltage and resistance measurements are remarkably close to their ideal values as compared with voltage & resistance calibrator instruments.
In this episode Shahriar reviews the Zurich Instruments MFIA Impedance analyzer. The unit is capable of measuring impedances from 1mΩ to 1TΩ and across a frequency range of 1mHz to 5MHz while providing a basic accuracy of 0.05%. However, this instrument is much more than just an Impedance Analyzer, it is build on a lock-in amplifier architecture with sophisticated capabilities and features:
In this episode Shahriar visits the Industry Trade Show at IMS Microwave Week held in Washington DC this year. Although it is impossible to capture everything at this amazing event, here is a look at some of new products and components from 25 of the vendors at the show.
The Signal Path (TSP) is a science & electrical engineering video blog for industry professionals, researchers & students. TSP is a not-for-profit website dedicated to provide free education spanning a wide range of electrical engineering & science topics. Equipment reviews, tutorials and repair videos are posted regularly.
