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The Use Of A Hipot Tester

By Paul Olson


The abbreviation used in place of the word high potential is hipot. This term is used in reference to a given group of instruments used for testing electrical safety in electric products. Hipot tester is used to verify the electrical insulation in various wired assemblies including appliances and finished cables. Some of these wired assemblies are printed circuit boards, transformers, and electric motors.

Upon the manufacture or assembly of an appliance or product, it is usual for some degree of electrical leakage to occur. However, the leakage is usually very low and is brought about by internal capacitance and voltages inside the appliance. It is normal for such leakage to occur and it needs to be expected of every device. There exist a number of instances where the leakage, for some reason, may be excess.

Excess leakage may be caused by break down of insulation in the product, design flaws or many other causes. Such flaws usually lead to excessive current leaking and may cause electrical shock to anyone that comes in contact with the faulty product. The importance of a hipot test is to verify and ensure that the product is sufficiently insulated so as not to cause shock to the operator.

Dielectric Withstanding Voltage (DWV) is another term used in place of the term hipot test. This process involves application of a high voltage between the earth ground shielding and the conductor in the product that carry current. Exposure to excessive voltage causes resultant current flow through the product. A high potential tester is the gadget used in monitoring of this resultant current, which is also called leakage current.

One major assumption is made in hipot testing. The assumption is that by applying excessive voltage, the insulation of the product should break, and if it does not, then the device should work fine under normal conditions. The appliance is supposed to be resilient against normal voltage, which is often applied in ordinary everyday use of most devices. It is this assumption that gives rise to the name Dielectric Withstanding Voltage.

The aim of the test is to stress the insulation used in the product. However, besides stressing the insulation, the test is also used to detect defects in workmanship. The most important aspects of workmanship that are monitored are the small gap spacings that occur between current-carrying conductors and earth ground. Under normal operating environment, these small gaps can be closed by contaminants, shock, vibration, humidity, and dirt.

When these small gaps close, the flow of current is enabled. This flow of current can be a major electrical hazard. Prior to product release into the market, it must be tested verify that such hazards cannot occur. The only applicable method that can be used in the detection of this type of defects is DWV. This is true in spite of there being other viable methods.

An electric device that manufacturers use in verification of electrical insulation is a high potential tester. It is made of a source of high voltage, a switching matrix and a current meter. Connection of the source of voltage and the current meter is done by the matrix switch. Including a display and a microcontroller automates the process of testing.




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