From December 20, 2020, manufacturers and suppliers must ensure that their audio/video (AV) devices and information and communication technology components comply with the new EN 62368-1 standard. This new, revised standard contains safety-related regulations and replaces the standards IEC/EN 60065 and IEC/EN 60950-1

This applies both to units in the devices, such as power supply modules, and to external power packs that are simply included with the devices.

In order to ensure protection against electric shock, different methods and techniques are described in the new standard. The IEC 62368-1 defines certain high-voltage tests (HiPot tests) depending on the mains voltage used for the device. That is, for example, 1.5kV for 120VAC or 2.5kV for 230VAC. These values ​​are decisive when dimensioning the gas discharge tube between PE and L/N.

Likewise, the devices or subsystems to be certified may only have certain residual voltages after being subjected to voltage pulses (surge, eg 1.2/50-8/20μs 6kV) in order to ensure protection against overvoltage. This generally requires gas arresters with ignition voltages triggered by the HiPot test. For these reasons, the arrester is separated from PE during the HiPot test, which means an increased, mostly manual effort.

To avoid this, the BXD series gas arrester was specially developed. The HiPot test can be carried out after assembly without any additional effort. At the same time, the requirements for overvoltage protection are met.

Key Features

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