Evaluation Engineering - 9

markets with differing standards requirements," he added.
Said Jamie Pederson, product marketing manager at B&K Precision, "One of the
key challenges for a customer is ensuring compliance with requirements that
may differ from country to country and
finding a safety tester to meet that need.
Choosing a hipot tester with programmable capabilities is key to supporting a
wide range of testing requirements."
Nick Piotrowski, Ikonix USA product
manager, identified functionality vs.
price point as a key challenge. "EST is
driven by standards-based testing (IEC,
UL standards, etc.). As a result, it covers a wide variety of products, and not
everyone's requirements are the same,"
he said. "Additionally, standards groups
(technical committees that create the
standards) don't always collaborate between industries." For instance, TC66
(Technical Committee for the IEC 61010-1
standard family-Laboratory Equipment)
might not collaborate on standards
writing with TC108 (IT & Video/Audio
Equipment). "This creates discrepancies
between different standards even though
there is a great deal of crossover between
these industries and safely testing similar
products," he said. "As a result, the manufacturer or vendor is forced to offer a
product that covers full-spectrum EST.
This is more expensive to manufacture
and thus becomes more expensive for the
customer."
Piotrowski also cited resistance to
upgrading/change, noting that industrial EST equipment innovations tend
to lag consumer electronics, for several
valid reasons. First, "New equipment is
expensive," he said. "A customer might
not have the budget to upgrade EST
equipment every few years, yet the rate
of change of technology is moving at a
quicker pace than ever."
Second, Piotrowski cited qualification.
"In many industries (for example, medical) changing equipment in a testing/
manufacturing process requires a complete revalidation of the system," he said.
"This is a time-consuming and expensive
process. As a result, customers try to hold
onto their equipment if possible, to avoid
these changes."

Finally, Piotrowski cited geopolitical
barriers. "Not every country (and thus
market) has the same set of requirements
on technology," he said. "Sometimes, there
are separate and/or additional requirements. It falls on the manufacturer to
contend with complex international requirements if they want to compete in
a global market. This is time consuming
and expensive."
Dan Carter, EST marketing product
manager at Chroma Systems Solutions,
said product safety testing is becoming
more complex with the growth of battery,
EV, and regenerative-power applications.
Consequently, the company has broadened its range of
electrical safety
test instrumentation beyond
basic hipot and
ground-bond testers and placed an
emphasis on education as part of
the sales process,
he said.
Carter cited as
an example of the
expanded product range the new
11210 battery-cell
insulation tester.
"On rare occasions, an electrical short can
develop inside the cell after passing production tests due to burrs or particles on
the positive electrode reaching the negative electrode after inflation occurs," he
explained. "If these cells that are susceptible to failure pass through to the end
user, the results could be catastrophic.
The 11210 provides a solution for manufacturers to mitigate these occurrences
in the dry-cell stage." The company offers
a white paper on the subject.1
Gregory Smith, U.S. director of sales
at Instek America Corp., cited lack of
knowledge regarding the various compliance standards and test parameters
as a key challenge-as well as a lack of
understanding of the engineering concepts behind the tests, especially in some
unique application areas. The company
can provide large companies with individualized product training, he said.

Products
According to Clark at Vitrek, the company
offers electrical safety test products including the V7X Series compact and economical electrical safety/hipot testers, the
95X Series high-power, high-resolution
hipot and ground-bond testers, the 964i
high-voltage switching system, the 98x
Series precision insulation resistance
testers, and QT-Pro test-automation software. The company also supports the calibration typically required by Nationally
Recognized Testing Labs (NRTLs). "Vitrek
instruments include a calibration cycle
commonly used on a daily basis," said
Clark. "Vitrek is an accredited ISO 17025

Vitrek V7X hipot safety tester.

calibration lab and offers this service to
its customers." A white paper addresses
calibration and other electrical product
safety test issues.2
Carter at Chroma described the company as a one-stop source for electrical
safety test products, offering instruments
from basic, standalone hipot and groundbond testers to impulse winding testers,
LCR meters, and more in addition to the
battery-cell insulation testers. "At the
forefront of our offerings are fully automated test systems that can incorporate
safety tests with many other electrical
tests that are often required by OEMs,"
he said. "Our instruments are built for
automation, and we are experts in integrating them into turnkey solutions for a
wide variety of test requirements."
Specific products in addition to the
11210 include the 19036 hipot, IR, DCR,
and impulse-winding test combination
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Evaluation Engineering

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