Thursday 20 June 2019

Useful Information Regarding Insulation Tester

By Barbara Morgan


In a perfect world, current that is sent along a conductive wire is supposed to reach the intended destination in full. However, this does not happen in the real world because some of the current is usually lost along the way. There are different reasons why the current gets lost along the way. In an attempt to prevent the loss of current, resistant sheathing is used to insulate conductive wires. Here are facts regarding Insulation tester.

Sometimes the current is lost if the insulating sheath is made from imperfect materials. Machinery and electric circuits are greatly affected when there is leakage of current due to imperfect cladding. Such a case can be controlled by frequently testing the insulating material to determine its perfectness. Testing the material frequently can help to catch problems in advance before injuries or device failure happens because of loss of current.

This testing process is done using a pieces of equipment referred to as an cladding tester. The equipment tests the integrity of the cladding by measuring its resistance to the flow of current across it. If the cladding is of high quality, it means that very little current will escape through it. On the contrary, if the cladding offers very little resistance, then a higher amount of current will flow across it.

When measuring the quality of material used to make the sheath, different kinds of current are tested. Absorption, leakage and capacitive currents are the three main types of current tested. The current that occurs immediately when voltage is applied to conductors is referred to as capacitive current.

Capacitive current is similar to the first burst of water from a hose. The initial burst is usually very high, but it then reduces very fast. The drop is caused by the fact that the hose becomes filled with water after a sort while and the flow of water becomes steady. In the case of electricity, the conductor becomes fully charged, hence the drop in current flow.

Absorption current is similar to capacitive current in that it starts out high but then drops. The only difference between these two kinds of currents is that absorption current drops at a much lower rate compared to capacitive current. The gradual drop in absorption current is due to the storage of potential energy in the cladding. Absorption current makes an important part of the time resistance method of cladding testing.

Leakage current is also referred to as conduction current. This is a small, steady current that is present both over and through the cladding. If the leakage current increases over time, it implies that the cladding is deteriorating over time too. Insulation test meter usually indicates these increase in leakage current as decrease in resistance.

Currently, different types of cladding testers are available in the market. Different manufacturers from different countries produce these devices. The manufacturer of the equipment largely influences its quality. Different models of cladding testers are used to perform different functions. For instance, some testers are designed to perform testing in residential settings while other testers are meant to be used for testing equipment in industries.




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