Electronic loads are circuits that consume electrical energy. During the development and evaluation of power supplies, engineers often face challenges. For example, it can be difficult to procure the actual load, or time-consuming to create a substitute load using passive components like resistors.
Furthermore, an electronic load can easily simulate behaviors that are difficult to reproduce with an actual physical load, such as dynamic load changes (e.g., varying resistance or current demand).
- Electronic load applications: Power supply circuit evaluation
- Advantages of using electronic loads: Enable safe and reliable testing under dynamic load conditions.
Typical electronic loads dissipate power as heat. Regenerative electronic loads and regenerative power supplies (bidirectional power supplies) return the consumed power back to the alternating current (AC) power grid.
For high-power applications, regenerative electronic loads and regenerative power supplies offer significant advantages in reducing electricity costs and simplifying thermal management.
