High Voltage and Dielectric Test Equipment

Test Equipment for Sale
  1. Capacitance and dissipation factor test system: PolyK has successfully integrated Agilent 4284A LCR meter with temperature chamber/furnace with a shielded low-impedance test fixture. The system can measure the capacitance and dissipation factor (and other pairs of parameters such as impedance, inductance, etc provided by 4284A) as a function of temperature and frequency.
    • If Sun Electronics chamber or Delta Design chamber is used, temperature range is from <-100 C (with liquid nitrogen cooling option) to 250 deg C (can go to 300 deg C with special cables).
    • High temperature furnace can extend the maximal temperature to >1,000 deg (high temperature shielded electrical conductors are used).
    • Other LCR meters can also be used to replace the Agilent 4284A (such as QuadTech 7600, Agilent/Keysight 4980A, Solartron 1260A, etc) to extend the test frequency range. 
    • Sample fixtures with multiple specimens are available. During the test process, LabView will scan each specimen to save test time.
    • LabView control program allows user to either perform temperature ramp or frequency scan (isothermal).
    • Users do not need LabView license. PolyK provides an executable LabView program that the customers can run without LabView program. 
  2. Polarization loop and ferroelectric test system: measure the electrical charge on dielectric/ferroelectric materials and capacitors as a function of electric field. Frequency range from 1,000 Hz to 1 Hz. Maximal test voltage is determined by the external high voltage amplifier (PolyK recommends Trek amplifier/power supply). 20 kV amplifier is routinely used in PolyK test lab. The LabView software can also automatically calculate the energy density, efficiency, and effective dielectric constant. The aging function allow the user to perform automatic long-term aging test.  
  3. Leakage current test system: This test system integrate various electrometers or picoammeters with a temperature chamber. Similar to the capacitance test system, temperature can be controlled by either Sun Electronics chamber or high temperature chamber. Shielded test fixture is critical to the success of the test. LabView control program is provided. Test fixture with guard ring is available, though it may not be necessary for thin dielectrics.
    • High precision meters to measure low current down to pA: Keithley 6517A or Keithley 6485, or HP 4140B
    • High voltage power supplies include Keithley or Stanford Research Systems, or Trek.
  4. Capacitor charge-discharge test system: This system combines a high voltage power supply/amplifier, a high voltage charging switch, a high power switch (up to 30 kV or 20 A - 5,000 A, MOSFET, IGBT, or thyristor), a high voltage probe, a resistive load, a high voltage probe, and an oscilloscope. The LabView program controls the entire test process. It can save the charging curve (V, I, t), discharging curve (V, t with known R), as well as the charging time, charging energy, charging capacitance, discharging energy, discharging capacitance, charge-discharge efficiency, etc. Multiple thermocouples can be used at the same time to monitor the temperatures at different locations. Aging test can be performed and the LabView program will save a summery file including all relevant results. Test samples can be pF-nF single layer dielectrics, or uF-mF capacitors.
  5. Thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC): This system is based on the Leakage current test system by using different control box and LabView program. The test system is firstly poled at preset temperature and voltage, then the temperature is decreased while the voltage is still on. Then the high voltage is turned off and the electrical current is monitored while the sample temperature is ramped at preset rate.
  6. MTI folding machine for material ductility: This is a home-made machine that can fold a soft film or sheet to test its ductility or brittleness following ASTM D2176. It has an electrical counter that can count up to 9,999,999 times 
  7. Capacitance and dissipation factor under high voltage DC bias: This is a special test system requiring well-trained operator. PolyK recommends the test shall be done by PolyK engineers, though the equipment can be sold with limited warranty.
  8. Pyroelectric test system: This is a test system that is similar to TSDC. The sensitive high precision electrometer can be used to measure the extremely low electrical current during temperature change for pyroelectric polymers or ceramic materials.
  9. Turn-Key HV & Dielectric Lab: for customers with limited budget (e.g., young scientists who are starting a new lab before receiving major funding), we can provide a solution for an entire high voltage and dielectric lab including 4284 LCR meter, PE loop test control unit, Trek Amplifier, Keithley 6517A electrometer, and one or two temperature chambers. With shared components, various tests (above) can be performed by combining different components (e.g., LCR meter + chamber + capacitance fixture for dielectric test) and controlled by PolyK LabVIEW control program. PolyK experienced HV & Dielectric engineer can provide installation, training, and maintenance for three years so the scientists can work on the technology development and proposal writing.
       High voltage and dielectric test equipment is very unique and they fit into very niche market. Sometime there is simply no commercial equipment available due to the small market. Other time, the commercial test tools are prohibitively expensive. Even though there are some expensive test tools for evaluating electrical insulation materials, they are not suitable for testing film capacitors as most electrical insulation materials are operated at <10 MV/m (or 1 MV/m) and they have thickness >3 mm, while capacitor films are usually operated at much higher field 100 - 600 MV/m with thickness <5 um.
        During our development and commercialization process, we have designed and developed several critical high voltage and dielectric test systems for capacitor films and capacitors. Unlike test equipment developed by large companies who do not have material expertise, we continuously improve our test equipment and test fixtures based our personal experience in performing these tests daily. There are several features of our test equipment:
  1. Precision and accuracy: this is our first priority as we need accurate and precise results to guide our materials and product development.
  2. Easy to operate with minimal chance to make mistakes: the test is usually controlled by LabView program.
  3. Test fixtures: specimen loading is super easy and the damage from high voltage electrode is minimized. Various ball electrodes are designed to apply high voltage without damage to soft polymer thin film (2~10 um).
  4. Quality of the test equipment: we always use components from the best manufacturers, such as Agilent (now Keysight), Keythley (a subsidiary of Tektronix), National Instrument (DAQ), Sun Electronics (temperature chamber), Stanford Research Systems (SRS), Trek (high voltage power supplies and amplifiers).
         Without significant distraction from our main materials commercialization efforts, we now offer these high voltage and dielectric test tools to university labs and small companies with limited budgets. Even with three-year warranty, the prices of these test systems are still unbelievably low. Sometime, we also offer our customers used equipment in these systems (such as Agilent 4284 LCR meters and Trek high voltage amplifiers) to further reduce the cost, and these used meters are usually calibrated by the original equipment manufacturers or our experienced electrical engineers.
        For young professors or small companies who need to build a new high voltage dielectric test lab, we are also offering a turnkey solution with typical test systems at very attractive prices (such as polarization test, capacitance test (vs T and frequency), dielectric breakdown test, leakage test, poling station, etc).
    
        While here we provide some examples of our test capabilities, modifications or other high voltage and dielectric test equipment may also be available upon request. Please contact us at admin@polyktech.com if you are interested.

Polarization-Loop test systems with frequency up to 200 Hz and charges up to 2 mC. LabView control program included. This equipment also perform charge-discharge test and lifetime test of small capacitors (<10 nF) with a summary file contains the energy density and capacitance as a function of test cycles

The Trek amplifier is interlocked with the high voltage cage. Opening the door of the HV cage will automatically turn off the Trek output.


Capacitor Charge-Discharge Test: The test system use a high voltage power supply to charge a large capacitor (1 nF to 1,000 uF) to a preset high voltage under constant current, then discharge it to a load through a high voltage/high current MosFET switches (current from 20 A to >2,000 A) at RC time constant from milliseconds to microseconds. The discharge waveform is captured by an oscilloscope and stored in a computer. The LabView program will also generate a summery file with charged energy, voltage/current (vs time), capacitance and discharged performance, as well as original charging and discharging waveforms. Two thermocouples can also be added to monitor the ambient and capacitor temperature change during the test. [Note, certain models are subject to export control and ITAR].

Dielectric Test: The test system combines an Agilent 4284A LCR meter with a Sun Electronics temperature chamber (liquid nitrogen temperature to >200 deg C). Labview is used to control the test at either isothermal frequency scan or temperature ramp. The test fixture is specially designed that can test more than four specimens during one run. Cost of this system can be less than $15,000 if we use calibrated second-hand LCR meters and temperature chambers.
A high temperature version is also available by using a small furnace with temperature up to 1100 deg c.




Leakage Current Test: The test system combines Keithley 6517A picoammeter and a DC power supply with a Sun Electronics temperature chamber. we have a special design of test fixture with minimal damage to soft polymer film under high voltage and high temperature. Labview is used to control the test.
The leakage current test setup can also be modified to perform TSDC (thermally stimulated depolarization current) test.
Two temperature chambers are possible: a Sun Electronics Chamber from -150 deg C to 300 deg C, or a high temperature furnace from 30 deg C to >1,100 deg C.


MTI Film Folding Machine
        Examine the ductility or brittleness of thin film or sheet. Automatic test and low cost. Electronic counter up to 9,999,999 folding.


Selected Used Equipment
        We are continuously upgrading our test facilities and the following are used tools that we do not need any more as we got new tools. All of them carry one month warranty. 
Trek Amplifiers:
Trek 609C  (+/-4 kV/20 mA), 609D (+/-4 kV/20 mA), 610D  (+/-10 kV/2 mA), 10/10B  (+/-10 kV/10 mA): all working well with either Trek calibration or our internal calibration.


Sun Electronic EC1A and EC11 chambers (with Liquid Nitrogen cooling and up to 315 deg C): pictures in above dielectric and leakage test systems.

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