Instrumentation Monthly Test | Measurement | Control
AMETEK Programmable Power has shipped a 810kVA AC + DC source system to the Chinese National Center of Supervision & Inspection of Solar PV Products Quality (CPVT) located in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. 
Based on AMETEK’s California Instruments RS Series High-Power AC Source, the systems are used for grid simulation in the test and certification of PV (photovoltaic) inverters. Dubbed the RS810, the nine chassis solution consists of three RS270 systems, with each system defined as three 90kVA chassis. Each RS270 system is capable of generating 270 kVA of 3 ø power at up to 520 Vac (L-L).
Three control chassis allow engineers at the CPVT to configure the entire solution as a single 810 kVA, three separate 270 kVA, or one 540 kVA with one 270 kVA system. This capability provides the flexibility to size the simulated power grid appropriately for the device being tested as well as increase testing capability throughout.
The simulation system has the ability to support the Low Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT) test, a critical capability for PV inverters in PV power generation stations to resist, and even support, the utility under specific abnormal voltage drop conditions to avoid large-scale, severe grid voltage drop caused by a chain reaction starting from a single inverter failure.
To test the LVRT capability, the grid simulator is required to generate customized voltage drops when the inverter under test is running at full power in the lab.
