Product Description:

The EEA-PAM-581-C-30 is a plug-in power amplifier card produced by Vickers as part of the EEA-PAM Power Amplifiers series. It is intended for industrial automation panels where an electronic interface must translate low-level control commands into proportional drive power for field devices.

The card operates from a dual control rail of ±15 V and draws only 50 mA, so upstream regulators can be sized modestly. Its main power stage is referenced to a 24 V DC system bus and absorbs up to 40 W during full output, a figure that guides cabinet thermal planning. Supply quality can deteriorate by as much as 10 % pk–pk ripple before the amplifier’s accuracy is compromised. Four onboard ramp potentiometers let the user set individual up- and down-slew profiles; with those pots the output rise or fall can be extended to 5 s or compressed to 0.050 s, allowing smooth hydraulic motion or fast emergency cutoff as needed.

For external reference sources, the module provides a constant-current output of 5 mA and a selectable voltage reference of ±10 V; these signals drive remote summing networks without significant loading. Reference cleanliness is maintained by keeping ripple below <20 mV pk–pk, which minimizes dither in proportional valves. To protect the circuit, an internal comparator removes drive power when the main supply collapses to 18 V DC, preventing partial saturation that could leave actuators in an indeterminate position. Combined with the earlier ramp controls, these features complete the amplifier’s closed-loop power profile without repeating information already noted.