PXIe-4051 Overview

The PXIe-4051 is a single-channel electronic load featuring enhanced capabilities including programmable compensation; it is designed for engineers building PXI systems that require voltage, current, resistance, or power sinking and voltage or current measurement.

Use the PXIe-4051 in applications including manufacturing test, board-level test, and lab characterization with devices such as ICs, power management ICs (PMICs), power supply ICs and designs, and in anywhere a highly configurable programmable dynamic load is required.

Device Capabilities

The PXIe-4051 is a high-precision electronic load that has the following features and capabilities.

  • 300 W Sink power
  • Current Ranges: 4 A, 40 A
  • Voltage Ranges: 6 V, 60 V
  • Resistance Range: 1 kΩ
  • Power Ranges: 150 W, 300 W
  • Voltage remote sense
  • Constant Current, Constant Voltage, Constant Power, and Constant Resistance modes
  • Programmable current level slew rates
  • Advanced sequences and steps
  • 1.8 MSample/s maximum sampling rate and 100 kSample/s maximum update rate
Note The underlying voltage and current ranges for PXIe-4051 constant resistance and power ranges are 60 V and 40 A.
Note The PXIe-4051 constant power range is dependent on the cooling capacity of the PXIe chassis housing the PXIe-4051.
Figure 1. PXIe-4051 Quadrant Diagram


Note For more information on operation at voltages below Vmin, refer to the following figure.
Figure 2. Expanded View of Minimum Resistance Limited Region


Note The PXIe-4051 electronic load is a single quadrant instrument operating in quadrant IV (sink power). To match historical industry behavior of electronic loads, all other sections of the PXIe-4051 documentation and the NI-DCPower driver use a positive sign convention for current levels/limits and measurements. For code compatibility with SMU instruments, use the Instrument Mode property to determine the sign convention being used by NI-DCPower.
Model Variant Chassis Type Max DC Sinking Power
PXIe-4051 82 W Slot Cooling Capacity 300 W
58 W Slot Cooling Capacity 150 W

Driver Support

NI recommends that you use the newest version of the driver for your module.

Table 1. Earliest Driver Version Support
Variant Driver Name Earliest Version Support
PXIe-4051 NI-DCPower 2023 Q4