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Power-supply sequencer — R&S HMP + National Instruments acquisition

Python application to sequence the power supply of an electronic board safely: channel control (R&S HMP40xx / 20xx over SCPI), voltage → current servo control, temperature measurement (NI module), thermal safety, recording and test reports. Qt GUI (PySide6), bilingual EN/FR. Runs in simulation (no hardware) as well as on real hardware — the same code.

⚠️ Safety. This software drives power supplies: its protections are software and do not replace a hardware safety device nor the operator's judgement. Provided without warranty (GPL‑3.0), not certified, use at your own risk. Connect the instruments on an isolated bench network (SCPI/TCPIP has no authentication). See SECURITY.md.

Overview

Safety in action (simulation) — the board heats up under power, monitoring crosses the warning threshold, then at critical the safety power-down triggers (red banner) and the temperature drops. No hardware required.

Control tab — power channels and series group, temperature monitoring (thresholds), permanent safety bar (emergency stop, shutdown sequence, rearm), mode badge and log. (simulation scenario)

Chart tab — real-time curves switchable between °C / A / V, warning/critical thresholds, read cursor for values, event markers, PNG / CSV export.

Sequence editor tab — syntax highlighting, live lint (✓/✗ + faulty line), auto-completion and a clickable command palette.

Features

• Power channels — voltage / current-limit setting, ON/OFF, series groups, negative rails, labels (VCC, VDRAIN…).
• Servo control — drives one channel until a target current measured on another is reached, with fixed or adaptive step (secant/Newton).
• Thermal safety — warning/critical thresholds per sensor; at critical, an orderly power-down (soft switch-off), hard cut-off as a last resort, emergency stop, state locked until rearmed.
• Temperatures — voltage → °C conversion (table, polynomial, NTC, PTC/RTD, K/J thermocouple) with faulty-sensor detection.
• .seq sequences (one action per line: SET, ON/OFF, WAIT, RAMP, SERVO, WAIT_CURRENT/TEMP, RELAY, REPEAT…) — built-in editor with live lint and auto-completion.
• Relays / actuators and simulated couplings (test a servo without hardware).
• Traceability — self-contained test folders (CSV + config + sequence + log), regenerable PDF report, test replay and comparison.
• Configuration wizard — simulation, VISA scan, manual address entry.
• Bilingual — French / English, selectable in View → Language.
• Simulation / real parity — faithful mocks (thermal model, loads, couplings).

Getting started

pip install -r requirements-qt.txt    # Qt GUI — required, even in simulation
python3 main.py                        # starts in simulation (demo config + sequences)

pip install -r requirements.txt        # + REAL-HARDWARE drivers (pyvisa, nidaqmx)
python3 main.py --config config.json   # set "simulate": false in the JSON

A demo configuration and several sequences ship with the app: launch it, open sequences/demo.seq, run — everything happens in simulation, no hardware. On first launch the language follows the system locale (English fallback); change it under View → Language.

Windows: ALIM_SEQ-Setup.exe installer in the Releases (starts in simulation, no dependency to install).

Documentation

• User manual — full usage (also in the app: Help → User manual, F1). (French: Manuel utilisateur)
• Architecture — internals (threads, safety, data flow).
• Developer guide — picking up the code: setup, recipes, pitfalls.
• Integrate a device driver · Contributing · Changelog.

Tests

pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
python -m pytest                       # the whole suite, in simulation (no hardware, no network)

License

GNU General Public License v3.0 — see LICENSE. You are free to use, study, modify and redistribute; any distributed version stays open under the same license and is provided without any warranty.