- on Power Supplies
- Published in issue 7/2011 on page 28
High Voltage Generator
This high voltage generator was designed with the aim of testing the electrical breakdown protection used on the railways. These protection measures are used to ensure that any external metal parts will never be at a high voltage. If that were about to happen, a very large current would flow (in the order of kilo-amps), which causes the protection to operate, creating a short circuit to ground effectively earthing the metal parts. This happens when, for example, a lightning strike hits the overhead line (or their supports) on the railways.