Safety and Usage of High Voltage Power Supply

High Voltage Experiments or, How not to meet God!

GOD Particle

Figure #42

Looking for God ... I'm sorry, you wont find it here.

Typical Signs of Denial

  • "I know what I'm doing."
  • "I use high voltage power supplies carefully, so I'll be fine."
  • "I've never had any problems, so I'm probably ok."

But, are you sure there is nothing you've neglected or overlooked?

Items that require particular attention

When handling high voltage, failure to observe safety precautions can result in electric shock, or even death. It is critical to carefully follow the following safety precautions.

1. Always connect a ground wire

To prevent electrocution during electricity discharging, either cover the conductive part with an insulator with sufficient dielectric strength, or cover it with an object with ground potential so that electricity is not discharged to a different location.

2. Do not touch high voltage areas

During the operation of high-voltage equipment, avoid contact with parts with high-voltage outputs and high-voltage terminals.

Carelessness can result in electric shocks. During normal operation and test operation, extremely high voltages are applied to the terminals. Thus, accidentally touching them or coming into contact with them can be fatal.

3. Cover high voltage areas

With high voltages of 300 V or more, there is a risk of electric shock due to the discharge of electricity, even if you do not directly touch an electrode. Therefore, to ensure that these areas cannot be touched directly, it is important to either cover electrodes and other high voltage areas with insulators with sufficient dielectric strength, or cover them with a grounded conductive material.

Danger
Cover with Insulators.

Use insulators with superior insulation properties

Danger
Cover with Insulators.

Never touch stripped wire

4. Share an awareness of danger

Considering the high risk of electric shock accidents, it is best avoiding any contact with high voltage power supplies if personnel who are experienced in the operation of high voltage power supplies and who know how to perform appropriate first aid measures are not nearby. Moreover, if inexperienced personnel are operating a high voltage power supply, explain the necessary precautions in advance (such as wearing safety equipment and avoiding contact with hazardous areas) and ensure they completely understand the dangers before performing operations.

5. Perform operations with your right hand

To reduce the risk of electric current flowing through the important organs of the body in the event of an electric shock, be sure to operate high voltage power supplies using only the right hand while keeping the left hand away from the high voltage power supply and all other equipment.

6. Turn off the power before touching equipment

Importantly, turn off the power before touching any high-voltage areas. Additionally, make sure that the power is completely turned off. Moreover, there are capacitors in the output area, which makes it extremely dangerous to touch such areas immediately after the power has been turned off. Pay careful attention to the electric charge in these capacitors while grounding them to discharge the electricity.

7. Pay attention to electric charge in cables

The energy that is charged in output shielded cables is discharged by grounding. However, in some cases, when the ground is disconnected, the charge may not completely discharge, or the charge might be recovered after some time. Therefore, be sure to completely remove all charge from output cables before touching them.

Short the output to ground.

8. Disconnect the input line before touching

If you have to touch the inside of the power supply for some reason, ensure to follow the instruction manual and turn off the power before disconnecting the input line. Additionally, all capacitors and devices that generated high voltages must be grounded.

In case there is no procedure described in the instruction manual, never remove the cover and do not touch the inside of the power supply.

9. Instruct others to pay careful attention

To prevent people from entering hazardous areas or inadvertently coming into contact with high voltage areas, it is important to clearly mark hazardous areas and instruct others to pay careful attention to the dangers of high voltage. Additionally, when a high voltage is generated, issue a warning using a warning lamp or an audible alarm.




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