testing

GR-1089-CORE has always required the Cross Voltage Test in its Section 4. This test simulates communication wires contacting power wires. Previously, the Cross Voltage Test has been conducted at 600V, but the new Issue 6 has decreased this voltage to 425V. The 425V test uses the same current levels as were required for the 600V test, so this is a decrease in the amount of power that is required to be produced by testers designed to perform the Issue 6 Cross Voltage Test. In this article, we will address the two new tables describing the tests, discuss changes and note the tests that have not changed, and offer some general guidelines for parties who would like to modify existing Cross Voltage Testers to perform the Issue 6 Test Suite at 425V.

In order to ensure that a battery-driven product functions properly, there are different methods of testing and evaluating the battery’s functioning and safety. There are four different categories of tests that can be used in order to qualify a battery.

In Part 2 of this series we indicated that a key element in a successful static control program was the identification of those items (components, assemblies and finished products) that are sensitive to ESD and the level of their sensitivity. Damage to an ESDS device by the ESD event is determined by the device’s ability to dissipate the energy of the discharge or withstand the current levels involved. This is known as device “ESD sensitivity” or “ESD susceptibility.”

The photovoltaic (PV) industry has experienced incredibly fast transformation after year 2000 as a result of extraordinary technology breakthroughs, from the material level up to large-scale module manufacturing.

With the PV industry expected to grow consistently in the coming years, two main questions are capturing the attention among market operators:

1. What constitutes a “good quality” module?
2. How “reliable” will it be in the field?

This is the first in a series of articles that, instead of focusing on technical aspects of EMC design, engineering, testing, and standards which all of us enjoy reading, I am taking a different approach as a contributing editor to examine in a controversial manner who we are and where our career may possibly take us in the future.