Calculating Creepage and Clearance Early Avoids Design Problems Later by Homi Ahmadi One of the most common

errors uncovered by product safety engineers stems from manufacturers and designers failing to fully investigate a product's creepage and clearance distances. t is not unusual for manufacturers to find that a product fails the creepage and clearance distance test because of miscalculations or simply because the distance bet!een t!o components !as overloo"ed. Design engineers# especially printed circuit board $PC%& designers# are often not a!are of the reasons for using creepage and clearance distances. 'electing the appropriate tables in the standard and applying them properly to a design are "ey to avoiding problems later. Last(minute failure can also arise because design engineers do not see" input from the product safety engineers in the early design stages. Designers sometimes assume that all safety issues relating to creepage and clearance have been addressed# only to discover spacing problems once the product is built. %asic Definitions Creepage Distance. Creepage is the shortest path bet!een t!o conductive parts $or bet!een a conductive part and the bounding surface of the e)uipment& measured along the surface of the insulation. A proper and ade)uate creepage distance protects against trac"ing# a process that produces a partially conducting path of locali*ed deterioration on the surface of an insulating material as a result of the electric discharges on or close to an insulation surface. +he degree of trac"ing re)uired depends on t!o ma,or factors- the comparative trac"ing inde. $C+ & of the material and the degree of pollution in the environment. /sed for electrical insulating materials# the C+ provides a numerical value of the voltage that !ill cause failure by trac"ing during standard testing. EC 001 provides a fuller e.planation of trac"ing and C+ .0 +rac"ing that damages the insulating material normally occurs because of one or more of the follo!ing reasons2 Humidity in the atmosphere. 2 Presence of contamination. 2 Corrosive chemicals. 2 Altitude at !hich e)uipment is to be operated. Clearance Distance. Clearance is the shortest distance bet!een t!o conductive parts $or bet!een

a conductive part and the bounding surface of the e)uipment& measured through air. Clearance distance helps prevent dielectric brea"do!n bet!een electrodes caused by the ioni*ation of air. +he dielectric brea"do!n level is further influenced by relative humidity# temperature# and degree of pollution in the environment. 3hen designing a s!itch(mode po!er supply for use in information technology $ +& e)uipment# a typical rule of thumb is to allo! an 4(mm creepage distance bet!een primary and secondary circuits# and a 5(mm distance bet!een primary and ground. f these dimensions are allo!ed for during the design stage# there is a high probability $678& that no failure !ill occur !ith respect to creepage or clearance !hen the final product is submitted for test. 3or"ing 9oltages. A !or"ing voltage is the highest voltage to !hich the insulation under consideration is $or can be& sub,ected !hen the e)uipment is operating at its rated voltage under normal use conditions. +he appropriate creepage and clearance values can be determined from the figures provided in the relevant tables in E: ;<67<.1 +hese values must sometimes be calculated. +o use +ables = 9 $1H# 1># 1?# and 1L of the standard&# the follo!ing factors must be considered- determination of !or"ing voltages# pollution degree of the environment# and the overvoltage category of the e)uipment's po!er source. 3hen measuring !or"ing voltages# it is important to measure both pea" and root(mean(s)uare $rms& voltages. +he pea" value is used to determine the clearance# and the rms value is used to calculate creepage. @or e.ample# if one measures a pea" voltage of ;A< 9 bet!een t!o pins of a s!itching transformer in a s!itch(mode po!er supply# the clearance distance bet!een primary and secondary circuits must be calculated using +able . f the unit is po!ered via 15< 9 mains and has a pollution degree of 1# the figures in the center ro! $mar"ed B<< 9 rms sinusoidal& and center column $since the mains voltage is C07< 9 and D B<< 9& are used to establish the re)uired clearance distance. n this case# the value for reinforced insulation is 5 mm. One then turns to +able $+able 1> of E: ;<67<&# !hich provides additional clearance based on the !or"ing voltages and pollution degree. $+he middle column !as used for calculating this e.ample.& +he appropriate ro! in that column covers the actual repetitive pea" insulation !or"ing voltage. n this e.ample# the value !ould be <.4 mm for reinforced insulation. Adding the t!o figures together gives a total of 5.4 mm clearance distance. 'imilarly# if a voltage of BBA 9 rms !as measured bet!een the t!o pins of the s!itching transformer# +able 9 $1L

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Calculating Creepage and Clearance Early Avoids Design Problems Later by Homi Ahmadi Eeferences 0. EC 001-06A6# FGethod for Determining the Comparative and the Proof +rac"ing ndices of 'olid nsulating Gaterial under Goist Conditions#F nternational Electrotechnical Commission# %russels.

1. %' E: ;<67<-1<<<# F'afety of nformation +echnology E)uipment#F %ritish 'tandards nstitute $%' &# /nited ?ingdom. B. EC ;<;;5-064< F nsulation Co(ordination !ithin Lo!(9oltage 'ystems ncluding Clearances and Creepage Distances for E)uipment#F nternational Electrotechnical Commission# %russels. 5. %' E: ;0<0<(0-066<# F'afety Ee)uirements for Electrical E)uipment for Geasurement# Control# and Laboratory /se# Part 0- Heneral Ee)uirements#F %' # /nited ?ingdom. Homi Ahmadi is approvals manager for Cortech 'ystems $'imi 9alley# CA&. He can be reached at HahmadiIcortechsys.com.