The HVP500 pulser is a high voltage pulse generator dedicated for using acoustic emission sensors as actuators.

In acoustic emission analysis, attempts are often made to localize the sources of acoustic events precisely in the material. For this purpose, an array of sensors is attached to a test object. The source can be localized based on the different arrival times of the acoustic wave at the various sensor positions.

An important parameter in this calculation is the propagation speed in the material. This can vary in different directions depending on the material properties. The speed can also change during the test. To measure the propagation speed, one sensor is used as an actuator while the others continue to act as sensors. As the sensor positions are known, the propagation speed can be calculated from the time differences.

In order to use the sensors as actuators, a relatively high voltage of between 50 and 500 V must be applied, but only for very short periods of a few us. The HVP500 can generate pulses from 1 us to 1 ms. The timing of the output pulse is controlled via an external pulse input. The pulse voltage is controlled via a voltage input.