Sun roofs have provided drivers and passengers with fresh air and light for many years. Like almost every aspect of automotive manufacturing, technology is dominating even roof systems, as they are now referred to. The weight has been reduced dramatically to improve fuel efficiency through the use of polycarbonate materials and they can now provide solar power. Cells embedded in the glass panel operate the vehicle’s ventilation fan to extract heat. This avoids having to turn on the A/C at maximum when first entering the car, again saving fuel and reducing CO2 emissions.

TDK-Lambda’s Z+ programmable power supplies are now in service testing high technology vehicle roof systems. All the Z+ units, including the 20V 40A 800W model used, can also simulate solar cell performance through the use of stored programs to fully test the panels. Software for the Z+ is freely available to easily program I/V curves to match the cell under test. Local product support helped the customer set up the power supplies for use.

TDK-Lambda offers a wide range of Programmable Power Supplies for industrial, test and measurement applications, click for more information