Testing power supplies for medical applications

Focus:

Power supplies used in patient-connected medical equipment are subject to the IEC 60601 standard, which specifies limits on leakage current limits, plus requirements for creepage, clearance, and isolation. This short article written by the VP of applications engineering at a power supply company explains the basics of the IEC 60601 standard. That includes why power supplies selected for medical applications should be designed and tested to the standard, the different equipment classifications under the standard (CF, BF and B), and circuits used for testing power supplies to the standard. The process used by the author’s company to select and test its power supplies to the standard is described.

What you’ll learn:

• How to understand the relevance of the IEC 60601 standard to the power supplies used in medical applications
• How to understand the limits on power supply leakage current imposed by the different classifications of IEC 60601

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Author & Publication:

Kevin Parmenter, VP, Application Engineering, North America, Excelsys Technologies, Medical Design & Outsourcing, Aug 10 2015

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