APPLICATION NOTE

Contactors and Power Supplies

Relaying the facts about switching solutions
Digging Into DC Switching
An ordinary light switch is a marvel of engineering. They are inexpensive, reliable and ubiquitous. Many
high voltage DC applications require switching to disconnect a power supply or load from a shared bus,
manage inrush current, or provide galvanic isolation. However, DC switching is not so straightforward as
the hardware store light switch. The simple binary control input of a high voltage DC relay belies many
nuanced considerations such as arc management, contact limitations, actuation speed, and test
integration. Choosing a practical relay or solid-state switching solution requires detailed understanding
and planning in all these areas to ensure dependable operation.

Power Supply and Feedback Loop Basics

DC power supplies and loads use closed loop feedback to regulate the voltage. The sensed voltage is
subtracted from the desired setpoint, and the resulting difference is amplified by the compensator to
correct the output voltage. Although the voltage sense point may be internal to the power supply, more
accurate voltage regulation and measurement can be achieved by connecting the sense amplifier directly
to the input of the DUT. This technique allows the control loop to regulate out the voltage drop from
current flowing in the load wiring or switch contact resistance. However, if the feedback loop is broken,
the supply will continuously raise the output voltage attempting to meet the setpoint and eventually surge
past it.

Switches within the feedback loop must be carefully managed so that they do not interfere with regulation.
Simple static errors, like leaving a relay open, will break the feedback loop. If the connection is closed
later by an automated test program, the DUT will be connected to an unregulated source well above its
setpoint. Similarly, dynamic conditions such as contact bounce will also break the feedback loop and
must be allowed to settle before enabling the power supply.

Voltage Loop Wire

Vset DUT
Compensator Resistance

Remote Sense
Amplifier +

Figure 1. Power supply with remote sensing to regulate out V=IR drop in the load leads.

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Choosing a DC Rated Contactor
AC relay specifications do not imply equivalent DC performance. Contactors used with DC power supplies
or loads must be specifically rated for DC operation. An electric arc is drawn between the contacts when
they open under load. This arc is a major wear mechanism and reduces practical device lifetimes to much
less than the purely mechanical lifetime listed on some datasheets. In ordinary AC contactors, the
duration of the arc is limited by periodic zero crossings of the AC waveform. Using an AC contactor to
break a DC load risks fire or other catastrophic damage. With no zero crossing to assist in the switching
process, DC arcs can persist indefinitely, welding the contacts or destroying the relay.

High voltage DC contactors include special provisions to manage arc duration and energy. Some high
voltage contactors house the switching mechanism in a hermetically sealed chamber. As the contacts
separate, vacuum or a high dielectric strength gas mixture extinguishes the arc more quickly than
ordinary air, reducing incident heat and damage. An additional benefit is the sealed enclosure keeps the
contacts clean of debris and insulating films.

Magnets and the Lorenz force can be used in relay design to lengthen the arc and direct it away from the
switch contacts or toward an arc chute. Although current may flow in either direction through a closed set of
contacts, the direction of the Lorenz force acting on the arc when the contacts open depends on the direction of
both the magnetic field and the current.1 The arc breaking rating of contactors employing magnetic blowout
mechanisms may be unidirectional or asymmetric in some models.2 Applications such as battery charge and
discharge involve both sourcing and sinking, so the switch must be appropriately rated for bidirectional
currents.

𝐹𝐹⃗ = 𝑞𝑞 𝑣𝑣⃗ 𝑥𝑥 𝐵𝐵
�⃗
Equation 1. The Lorentz force is charge multiplied by the cross product of the velocity vector and the magnetic field vector.

By Marcin Białek - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Link)

Figure 2. An electron gun fires horizontally into an evacuated tube under the influence of a horizontally-perpendicular
magnetic field. The Lorenz force bends the trajectory up into a circle as described by the “right hand rule.”

3
Minimum Loads
Maximum current is an expected specification on every relay datasheet. Less prominently noted is often a
minimum load requirement as well.3, 5 A thin insulating film can grow on the contacts and prevent
electrical connection even if they are touching physically. This high impedance film forms a large voltage
divider with the relatively low impedance load and is quickly punctured by dielectric breakdown.4 Without
this minimum load, electrical connection might never be established. Hermetically sealed reed relays or
gold plated contacts can be employed to prevent the insulating film from growing. However, both reed
relays and gold plating are easily damaged by arcing and, therefore, are unsuitable for power
applications.

High Resistance
Contact Film

Specified
Voltage Minimum
Source Load

Figure 3. Insulating film on relay contacts

Full Galvanic Isolation

If full galvanic isolation is required, then both the supply and remote sense wires must be disconnected
from the DUT. One option is to connect the sense lines before the main power contactors. This approach
cannot sense or correct for the voltage drop across the relay and subsequent wiring. Voltage
programming and measurement accuracy suffer accordingly, but basic voltage regulation will be
preserved, even if a relay malfunctions.

Voltage Loop Wire Contact

Vset DUT
Compensator Resistance Resistance

Remote Sense
Amplifier +

Figure 4. Sense leads connected before relays are simple but reduce programming and measurement accuracy

Alternatively, if programming and measurement accuracy are very important, a separate set of relays
could be used to switch the sense lines directly to the DUT input. Power supply voltage feedback inputs

4
are designed with a high impedance input to minimize its loading effect on the circuit. Gold plated
contacts or hermetically sealed reed relays are required to avoid minimum load requirements.

Voltage Loop Wire Contact

Vset DUT
Compensator Resistance Resistance

Remote Sense
Amplifier +

Figure 5. Separate sense relays and power contactors improve measurement and programming accuracy

Solid-State Relays
If galvanic isolation is not required, solid-state relays (SSR) reduce or eliminate many of the difficulties
associated with conventional relays or contactors. With no moving parts, SSRs are much faster than
mechanical switches. Although there are no contact arcing concerns, commercial DC SSRs are still
different from their AC counterparts. Some AC designs employ thyristors as the switching element.6 They
latch on after a trigger pulse, but only shut off when the load current falls below the thyristor latching
threshold – typically at a zero crossing in the AC cycle. DC SSRs use a continuous signal to enable FETs
or IGBTs but might not be set up to block reverse current.

While it is possible to build a custom SSR, practical considerations extend well beyond simply choosing
an appropriate IGBT or FET. Blocking reverse current requires two anti-series power devices doubling
cost, losses, and heat sink volume. The metal backplate on many transistor packages is electrically
connected and will require isolation if the heat sink is grounded or shared by other devices.

Shared Heat Sink

Case Case

Figure 6. Anti-series FETs can block current in either direction

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High power SSRs should be recognized as requiring substantial mechanical engineering effort in addition
to the electrical development. Power dissipation from the IGBT saturation voltage, FET channel
resistance (Rds_on), or diode forward voltage will usually necessitate heat sinking. The self-heating in
FETs is compounded by a positive temperature coefficient for resistance. Rds_on for silicon FETs
operating near 150C is typically 2 to 3 times higher than at room temperature. This increase in resistance
helps to balance the currents in circuits using parallel FETs, but causes increased overall dissipation.
IGBTs are more difficult to parallel than FETs, because variations in saturation voltage can result in
unequal current sharing, dissipation, and die temperature. The heat sinks are likely to dominate the
overall weight and volume of the SSR solution and increase BOM and assembly costs. Finally, the whole
solution must be tested and characterized to evaluate thermal margins under both steady state and
transient conditions such as short circuit faults.

Figure 7. Anti-series FETs in a 400A solid-state relay with busbars (left) and 1000V solid-state relay (right)

Solid-state relays are much faster than conventional relays or contactors, because they do not rely on
mechanical contacts, which usually take milliseconds to move and settle. Instead, response times are
dominated by electrical effects. Current cannot change instantaneously in an inductor, so, rapidly opening
a switch in an inductive circuit will cause large voltage transients. Significant inductance may be present
even without an obviously inductive load like a coil or a motor. Inductance of twisted-pair wire to the load
can be estimated as 1uH/meter. Feedback regulated voltage sources have a low output impedance at DC
but appear inductive at higher frequencies.7 EMI filters usually contain inductive components. These
hidden inductances all affect the switching energy and disconnect time of a solid-state relay.

Unless it is given an alternate path or ramped down slowly, current built up in circuit inductances will force
the switch to conduct in avalanche mode when the switch is turned off. During avalanche, the transistor
acts like a Zener diode with a breakdown voltage above its specified maximum Vds. This voltage ramps
down the inductor current, but also results in high dissipation in the switching device. Although brief,
avalanche dissipation must not cause excessive transient die temperatures or exceed the manufacturer’s
limit on avalanche energy.

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 + Vavalanche -

Solid State Relay + Vinductor -

+ Twisted Pair +
Vsource Wiring Inductance DUT Vload
- ~1uH/meter -

Figure 8. Load wiring inductance can avalanche the solid-state relay

In the case of constant voltages, the current is a flat ramp, so, avalanche time and energy can be
estimated by hand. Otherwise, they can be simulated using known impedances and time varying
voltages. It is important to observe that because the inductor current flows through other sources present
in the circuit, total avalanche energy is much higher than just the inductor energy. This energy causes a
transient peak in die temperature on top of the normal conduction losses.

Δ𝐼𝐼
𝑉𝑉𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 − 𝑉𝑉𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑒 − 𝑉𝑉𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 = 𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 = 𝐿𝐿 ∗
Δ𝑡𝑡
Equation 2. Inductor voltage and ramp down time equation

𝐸𝐸𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑒 = 0.5 ∗ 𝑇𝑇𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 ∗ 𝑉𝑉𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑒 ∗ 𝐼𝐼𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝

Equation 3. Estimate of avalanche energy for triangular current ramp

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 A “short” example:
For the solid-state relay system shown in Figure 8:

• Vsource = 100V
• Idut_initial = 100A
• Ltotal = 25uH
• Vavalanche = 150V

A short circuit occurs and the voltage across the DUT drops from 100V to 0V. Current begins to
ramp up in circuit inductances. Overcurrent protection trips after 100us, by which time current has
reached 500A.
100𝑉𝑉 ∗ 100𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢
500𝐴𝐴 = 100𝐴𝐴 +
25𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢
Energy stored in inductance:
1
𝐸𝐸 = ∗ 25𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 ∗ 500𝐴𝐴2 = 3.125 J
2

The SSD opens and begins to avalanche at 150V. Current ramps down from 500A to 0A in 250us.
−500A
100𝑉𝑉 − 150𝑉𝑉 − 0𝑉𝑉 = −50𝑉𝑉 = 25𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 ∗ => Δ𝑡𝑡 = 250𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢
Δ𝑡𝑡
Estimated total energy dissipated in FET during avalanche:

𝐸𝐸 = 0.5 ∗ 250𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 ∗ 150𝑉𝑉 ∗ 500𝐴𝐴 = 9.375 J

System Integration
In addition to selection of hardware, system designers should allocate time to complete relay control and
test integration. Switch states must be planned for the needs of each test and synchronized with test
execution. All switches present in the load or sense wires must be solidly closed before turning on the
supply output and attempting to regulate the voltage.

Various non-idealities delay the final electrical connection between the contacts after the control signal
has been applied to a relay. These delays include time to ramp up current in the coil inductance, time to
move contacts together at a finite speed, and time to wait for contact bouncing to settle out.
Programmatic errors in setting up switch states, or race conditions from allowing inadequate settling time
before enabling the supply will break the voltage feedback loop, resulting in loss of regulation and large
overvoltages. In the best-case scenario, a test automation mistake might simply fail to close the final
contact that completes the circuit and spare the DUT from damage. A race condition or contact that
closes late will apply the unregulated supply overvoltage to the DUT.

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 Relay in wrong state

>100V

Voltage Loop Wire

Vset = 100V
Compensator Resistance

Remote Sense
Amplifier +

Figure 9. Open relay breaks voltage regulation loop resulting in overshoots

For DUTs like batteries, it can be useful to connect the sense wires directly to the DUT outboard of the
power relays or to briefly close only the sense relays. Then, the voltage measurement system can be
used to check for fault conditions like anomalous voltages or reverse polarity before allowing any current
to flow. After initial measurements are complete, both power contactors and sense relays must be closed
before turning on the supply.

Keysight Relay Solutions

Keysight RP7900 and MP4300 regenerative power supplies and loads include an internal SSR for every
output. Timing and control of the SSR is seamlessly integrated into the standard SCPI commands and
DUT protection features such as overvoltage or overcurrent detection. It operates automatically without
additional programming effort from the user or can be forced off using the INHIBIT line of the Digital IO
connector.

The internal solid-state switch enables RP7900 and MP4300 supplies to limit inrush currents when
working with batteries. When a battery is attached without a relay, tremendous currents flow to instantly
charge the power supply output capacitance to the battery voltage. Using High-Z Turn On Mode, the
RP7900 series supplies measure the external battery voltage and match it on the internal filter capacitors
behind the relay. Because the voltages are equal on both sides of the SSR, little charge transfer occurs
when it closes.

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 Local Sense
Amplifier +

Solid State
Relay
Voltage Loop
100V 100V
Compensator

Remote Sense
Amplifier +

Figure 10. High-Z Turn On prevents excessive capacitor charging current when the solid-state relay closes

If mechanical relays are desired, Keysight N6700, E4300, RP7900, MP4300 lines offer an 8 pin Digital IO
port. Pin state, direction and polarity can be assigned via simple SCPI commands. Digital outputs can
control large relays with an inexpensive logic level FET driver and a diode to prevent inductive kickback.
Digital inputs can provide feedback on relay armature positions by using auxiliary contacts. User
programmable overcurrent, and overvoltage protections can assert the FAULT bit through the Digital IO
output to open relays. The Digital IO INHIBIT line can be used as an interlock through auxiliary relay
contacts to prevent the power supply from operating while required relay paths are open.

Digital IO Port +5V Digital IO Port +5V Vcoil

(simplified) (simplified)

2.2k To DUT
IN 2.2k IN

To DUT Logic level FET

OUT OUT 47k

Figure 11. Relay state readback, Keysight Digital IO port, and coil driver

For protection against broken loop operation, RP7900 and MP4300 models include a hardwired voltage
sensing point inside the supply as shown in Figure 12. This circuit serves as a backup to the remote
voltage sense measurement which may be outboard of relays. It can detect local overvoltages and trigger
a shutdown even if a power contactor or sense relay is malfunctioning or set to the wrong state.

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 Local Sense
Amplifier +
Over Voltage
Detection -

Voltage Loop Wire

Vset DUT
Compensator Resistance

Remote Sense
Amplifier +

Figure 12. Local overvoltage detection

Conclusion
Choosing the right relay or contactor for a power supply, load, or shared bus involves careful evaluation
of several factors. Programming and measurement accuracy needs will dictate the configuration of
remote voltage sense wiring. Minimum and maximum loads will determine appropriate contact materials.
Galvanic isolation requirements will govern whether mechanical relays are necessary or if solid-state
relays can be used. DC voltage and current make switching more difficult than AC, requiring special
designs to manage arcing. In an automated test environment, switch states and timing must be
coordinated with each test to ensure reliable voltage regulation.

Keysight RP7900 and MP4300 power supplies and loads incorporate internal solid-state relays
automatically integrated with standard operation. If mechanical relays are required, these products
provide external signals to set the state and monitor status. These standard features reduce or eliminate
the time required to build and test a custom switching solution, enabling faster test development and
allowing engineering resources to be concentrated on other areas.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a relay and a contactor?

Contactors are high power relays. They may have multiple poles, but "Form A" (Normally Open) power
contacts are most common.

What is the difference between Galvanic and Non-Galvanic isolation?

When a switch is open, galvanic isolation implies a physical separation between parts of the circuit, not
just a high impedance between terminals. Relays can achieve galvanic isolation by moving contacts apart
on all connections to the DUT. Solid state switches do not physically separate parts of the circuit and do
not achieve galvanic isolation.

How do I know if a relay is DC rated?

DC ratings will be specified explicitly and separately from AC ratings on the manufacturer's datasheet.

How can I protect my DUT from unregulated voltages if the control loop is broken?

Use the Overvoltage Protection system on your power supply to shut it down if unexpectedly high voltage
is detected.

How long should I wait before enabling my power supply after closing mechanical relays?

Approximate relay actuation times will be listed on the datasheet. In general, contactors and large relays
move more slowly than small relays due to higher armature mass and longer contact gap distances.
Because contact bounce can disrupt voltage regulation, it is prudent to double check these time estimates
in situ to ensure that all contact motion is complete before enabling the power supply.

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References
1. “Blowout Magnets - What They Are & Why Use Them?” Durakool, 2021,
http://www.durakool.com/information/technology/blowout-magnets-what-they-are-why-use-them/

2. “Application Note: Direction of Current Flow for Contactors.” Application Note: Direction of Current
Flow for Contactors | Sensata Technologies, 3 Oct. 2022,
http://www.sensata.com/resources/application-note-direction-current-flow-contactors.

3. “Understand Relay Specifications to Get the Most out of Your Switching System.” Pickering
Interfaces Ltd, http://www.pickeringtest.com/en-us/kb/hardware-topics/relay-reliability/switching-and-
relay-specifications. Accessed 24 July 2024.

4. “Minimum Switching Capacity in EMR Relays.” Pickering Interfaces Ltd,

http://www.pickeringtest.com/en-us/kb/hardware-topics/relay-reliability/minimum-switching-capacity-
in-emr-relays. Accessed 24 July 2024.

5. “Relays Cautions for Use.” Panasonic, 8 July 2022,

https://industry.panasonic.com/global/en/products/control/relay/cautions_use.

6. “Solid-State Relays.” OMRON, 2007, http://www.ia.omron.com/support/guide/18/introduction.html.

7. Keysight RP7970 & RP7980 Series Operating and Service Guide | Keysight, Sept. 2022,
http://www.keysight.com/us/en/assets/9018-70074/service-manuals/9018-70074.pdf.

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This information is subject to change without notice. © Keysight Technologies, 2024,

Published in USA, August 18, 2024, 3124-1561.EN