My experience in high voltage systems is consistent with the phenolic rod approach mentioned below. It seemed to work as a general purpose tool, not one that required tuning for particular applications.
Jim ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- Dr. Jim Knighten NCR 17095 Via del Campo San Diego, CA 92127 Telephone: 619-485-2537 Fax: 619-485-3788 e-mail: [email protected] ---------- From: [email protected] [SMTP:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, July 09, 1998 6:29 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: Capacitor Discharge Tool? [email protected],Internet writes: > > > Does anyone know if a tool exists that can be used to safely >discharge > a stored charge in a capacitor (used in power supplies and RF > generators)? ... >. Any ideas? > > How do others our there handle this issue in Service Manuals? > > Thank you in advance, > Brian Kunde > Group Leader > Compliance Testing Center > [email protected] > > > Brian, When I was in the military we had a similar problem. Working on megawatt radar systems makes one concerned about making sure the system is discharged before maintenance. There were two approaches used. One was a phenolic rod 1/2 inch diameter and 3 feet long. It had a 1 foot long metal rod at the end. Where the rod attached to the phenolic there was a heavy ground braid with a large alligator clamp at the end of it. Attach the clamp to a known good ground and touch the hooked end of the rod to any charged parts. Yes it sparked some and snapped as well. There was usually no residual marking on either the part or the rod. The hook allowed you to leave the rod in place while working. Another method was to provide a built in discharge plate. When the doors that accessed the HV parts were opened, a flat metal plate fell down and onto the charged part. Discharge was quick and complete. The plate stayed in contact with the part while the doors were open. To remove the discharge path, the doors had to be closed, pushing the flapper up and off the contact point. Both methods are very effective. Neither presented a need for resistors tuned for one application or another. Hope this helps. Scott [email protected] > >
