I work for a semiconductor firm using a certain test machine to test certain devices. We are starting to run up against the power limitations of the power supplies of the tester, and are looking for alternate ways to beef them up.
It has been awhile since I have had any real EE courses, so I can't comprehend if this concept presented by another engineer will work.
The power supplies for the can adjust the voltage and clamp the current. At the moment, because the product description is a little ambiguous (and because it varies from product family to product family), it's hard for us to say whether the supply can only source current, or if it can sink current to. Maybe it doesn't matter.
Let's assume the power supply of the machine can supply at most 500mA in a range from 1-5V. We have devices that under certain test conditions will draw 30mA, and soon, under certain conditions will be wanting to draw more than 500mA.
The idea is to stick a "current source" down stream of the tester supply near to the device on the load board to supply the extra power for when the part needs it. When the part isn't needing it, the tester power supply will sink the current provided by the current source?
Does this make any sense?