Product Description:

The 232HC-81 is a high-power linear current amplifier produced by Copley Controls as a member of the CC High Power Amplifiers series. Designed for torque or force control loops in industrial automation, the unit translates low-level command voltages from motion controllers into large bidirectional currents for voice coils, electromagnets, and brushed servo motors. Its analog architecture and protection logic make it suitable for laboratory positioning stages, process actuators, and test stands where fast current regulation is required.

At the output stage, the amplifier can supply a continuous current of 120 A while pulse-width modulation occurs at 51 kHz, so inductive loads receive finely stepped energy packets without audible artifacts. A small-signal current bandwidth of 5 kHz enables tight closed-loop control, and the current settles to within 1% of its final value in 100 µs. With a differential command range of ±15 V, most ±10 V motion interfaces can drive the unit directly. Energy storage comes from 16,200 µF of internal capacitance, buffering regenerated energy and limiting bus ripple. Current-mode total harmonic distortion is limited to 0.2%, saturation resistance is 0.035 Ω, and quiescent current draw is 0.7 A, keeping panel losses low.

The output stage offers a voltage swing of ±140 V, providing sufficient voltage for high-impedance coils and supporting a triangle-wave current of 208 A peak during functional tests. Protection circuits disconnect drive power when the voltage reaches the 170 V overvoltage threshold, falls to the 40 V undervoltage threshold, or when current demand reaches the 260 A peak-current shutdown level. Thermal monitoring isolates the amplifier once the heat sink reaches 87 °C. In voltage mode, the response remains flat to 20 kHz, making the device suitable for high-frequency dither control in hydraulic valves and precise excitation of magnetic actuators.