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Rated Impulse withstand Voltage U
imp
(Flash test Voltage)
Rated Impulse withstand voltage of an equipment shall be equal to or higher than the values stated
for the transient overvoltages occurring in the circuit in which the equipment is fitted. (BS EN
60947-1:2007 + A1:2011)
The preferred values of rated impulse withstand voltage (Uimp) is given in the standard and a
suitable value of 0.5kV and 0.8kV was selected based on the rating of microswitch and its application
and also referring to the similar products for example: 200 series.
For switches with gold contact and environmentally sealed switches the Uimp is selected as 0.5kV
and for other microswitches the Uimp is 0.8kV.
To accommodate the variation in the rated impulse withstand voltage due to the variation in
altitudes it is multiplied by a safety factor of 1.5 times for 0.8kV = 0.8 x 1.5 = 1.2kV and for 0.5kV =
0.5 x 1.5 = 0.75kV.
Although, there are two different voltage derived for consistency we will test all the snapswitches at
same voltage of 1.2kV.
Hence, the flash tests voltage for CS snapswitch is to be 1.2kV.


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Azhar Khan
Senior Engineer