Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Strength Test)?
Hipot Test is short name of high potential (high voltage) Test and it is also known asDielectric
Withstand Test. A hipot test checks for good isolation.
Hipot test makes surety of no current will flow from one point to another point.
Hipot test is the opposite of a continuity test.
Continuity Test checks surety of current flows easily from one point to another point while Hipot
Test checks surety of current would not flow from one point to another point (and turn up the
voltage really high just to make sure no current will flow).
Hipot tests are helpful in finding nicked or crushed insulation, stray wire strands or braided
shielding, conductive or corrosive contaminants around the conductors, terminal spacing
problems, and tolerance errors in cables. Inadequate creepage and clearance distances
introduced during the manufacturing process.
The production-line hipot test, however, is a test of the manufacturing process to determine
whether the construction of a production unit is about the same as the construction of the unit that
was subjected to type testing. Some of the process failures that can be detected by a productionline hipot test include, for example, a transformer wound in such a way that creepage and
clearance have been reduced.
Such a failure could result from a new operator in the winding department.
HIPOT test is applied after tests such as fault condition, humidity, and vibration to determine
whether any degradation has taken place.
Other examples include identifying a pinhole defect in insulation or finding an enlarged solder
footprint.
As per IEC 60950, The Basic test Voltage for Hipot test is the 2X (Operating Voltage) + 1000 V
The reason for using 1000 V as part of the basic formula is that the insulation in any product can
be subjected to normal day-to-day transient over voltages.
Experiments and research have shown that these over voltages can be as high as 1000 V.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The test duration must be in accordance with the safety standard being used. The test time for
most standards, including products covered under IEC 60950, is 1 minute.
A typical rule of thumb is 110 to 120% of 2U + 1000 V for 12 seconds.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
One of the advantages of using a dc test voltage is that the leakage current trip can be set to a
much lower value than that of an ac test voltage. This would allow a manufacturer to filter those
products that have marginal insulation, which would have been passed by an ac tester.
When using a dc hipot tester, the capacitors in the circuit could be highly charged and, therefore, a
safe-discharge device or setup is needed. However, it is a good practice to always ensure that a
product is discharged, regardless of the test voltage or its nature, before it is handled.
It applies the voltage gradually. By monitoring the current flow as voltages increase, an operator
can detect a potential insulation breakdown before it occurs. A minor disadvantage of the dc hipot
tester is that because dc test voltages are more difficult to generate, the cost of a dc tester may be
slightly higher than that of an ac tester.
The main advantage of the dc test is DC Voltage does not produce harmful discharge as readily
occur in AC.
It can be applied at higher levels without risk or injuring good insulation. This higher potential can
literally sweep-out far more local defects.
The simple series circuit path of a local defect is more easily carbonized or reduced in resistance
by the dc leakage current than by ac, and the lower the fault path resistance becomes, the more
the leakage current increased, thus producing a snow balling effect which leads to the small
visible dielectric puncture usually observed. Since the dc is free of capacitive division, it is more
effective in picking out mechanical damage as well as inclusions or areas in the dielectric which
have lower resistance.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The total charge you can receive in a shock should not exceed 45 uC.
The total hipot energy should not exceed 350 mJ.
The total current should not exceed 5 mA peak (3.5 mA rms)
The fault current should not stay on longer than 10 mS.
If the tester doesnt meet these requirements then make sure it has a safety interlock
system that guarantees you cannot contact the cable while it is being hipot tested.
For Cable:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Verify the correct operation of the safety circuits in the equipment every time you calibrate
it.
Dont touch the cable during hipot testing.
Allow the hipot testing to complete before removing the cable.
Wear insulating gloves.
Dont allow children to use the equipment.
If you have any electronic implants then dont use the equipment.