D1MC Semester 1 / Energy Conservation Management ( ECM06) /
May 2007 /
OLADOKUN
1
To Be A World Class Maritime Academy
Introduction
High Voltage!!
D1MC Semester 1 / Energy Conservation Management ( ECM06) /
May 2007 /
OLADOKUN
2
To Be A World Class Maritime Academy
Definition
• The term high voltage characterizes electrical
circuits, in which the voltage used is the cause of
particular safety concerns and insulation
requirements.
• High voltage is used in electrical power distribution,
in cathode ray tubes, to generate X-rays and particle
beams, to demonstrate arcing, for ignition, in
photomultiplier tubes, and high power amplifier
vacuum tubes.
D1MC Semester 1 / Energy Conservation Management ( ECM06) /
May 2007 /
OLADOKUN
3
To Be A World Class Maritime Academy
• The International Electro-technical Commission and its
national counterparts (IEE, IEEE, VDE, etc.) define high
voltage circuits as those with more than 1000 V for
alternating current and at least 1500 V for direct current,
and distinguish it from low voltage (50–1000 V AC or 120–
1500 V DC) and extra low voltage (<50 V AC or <120 V
DC) circuits.
• In the United States 2005 National Electrical Code (NEC),
high voltage is any voltage over 600 V (article 490.2).
Laypersons may consider household mains circuits (100–
250 V AC), which carry the highest and most dangerous
voltages they normally encounter, to be high voltage. In
digital electronics, a high voltage is the one that represents a
logic 1 (1.1–5 V).
D1MC Semester 1 / Energy Conservation Management ( ECM06) /
May 2007 /
OLADOKUN
4
To Be A World Class Maritime Academy
Generation of High Voltages
The power systems engineers is interested in high
voltages primarily for power transmission, and
secondly for testing of his equipment used in power
transmission. In this chapter we are interested in
generating high voltages for testing of insulation.
Thus generation has to be carried out in the
testing laboratory. In many testing laboratories, the
primary source