Pre-Amplifier for Acoustic Emission Sensors

Universal AE Amplifier with up to 60 dB Gain and High Voltage Pulse Through

Elsys AG presents the new AE-Amp, a broadband preamplifier for AE sensors from various manufacturers. The 2-channel AE-Amp offers four different gain levels from 0 to 60 dB, which can be set either manually or via the USB interface. The bandwidth is adapted to common AE applications. A high-pass filter removes the signal components below 25kHz. The upper bandwidth is between 1 and 2.5 MHz which makes the amplifier ideal for seismic measurements.

The AE-Amp supports all passive AE sensors from various manufacturers. In addition, different power supply for active sensors are available. A programmable current source of 1 - 50 mA can be used for JFET or ICP / IEPE sensors. Optionally, a constant voltage of 28V can be switched on.

For using AE sensors also as actuators, the amplifier path can be bridged and high voltage pulses up to 500V can be applied to the sensor via a pulse input.

The AE-Amp is a modular amplifier which can be installed as a rack mountable module in the AE-Amp-BU-20 19 '' rack. Up to 10 amplifiers can be mounted in one 19’’ rack unit. The AE-Amp-BU-20 also provides the ability to route high voltage pulses from a high voltage source to individual input channels. This can be used, for example, for tomography measurements in which the acoustic travel times between various sensors must be measured.