PSNet
Ronald Hoitink recently asked about the names of voltage levels.
This question was raised because of the name of the Low Voltage Directive.
The names chosen for the voltage levels come from electrical
engineering practice. The names seem strange to electronics folks.
Extra Low Voltage is the name for those voltages up to 50Vac or
75Vdc and are generally considered safe to touch. The safeness
considerations give rise to variations on that designation - SELV, FELV
etc...
Low Voltage is the name given to voltages commonly used within
installations (homes, businesses & factories) and is 50Vac to 1000Vac
(1000Vac in Europe and 600Vac in North America) or 75Vdc to 1500Vdc.
Medium Voltage indicates those voltages used in Distribution to
neighborhoods & factories, etc. This is in the range of 2.4kV to 35kV or
so.
High Voltage is the voltage used for cross country Transmission,
from the generating plant to the Distribution substation. These are
voltages above the Medium Voltage/Distribution levels up to 2000kVac or
750kVdc or so.
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Peter E Perkins
Principal Product Safety Consultant
Tigard, ORe 97281-3427
+1/503/452-1201 phone/fax
[email protected] email
visit our website:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/peperkins
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