Dirty Power
Edgar Milford (emilford@bustoff.bwh.harvard.edu)
Wed, 19 Apr 1995 14:43:12 -0500
There really are several separate issues, one is fluctuation of voltage due
to the lack of a regulated pirmary supply, the second is electromagnetic
interference which is often inductive from unshielded lines crossing each
other, and the third which we encountered at our facility is non-ground
grounds. We have had all three problems at one time or another. The first
problem we solved by having a voltage regulator installed. The second
problem we solved by just moving wires around so that they didnt cross. The
third problem was actually the most severe and caused a couple of boards to
fry before we found out what the problem was. We had several components of
the cytometer plugged into different outlets and it turned out that
(despite the fact that this is a hospital) the outlet grounds were not at
the same potential. There was a significant delta-V across the two grounds
which played havoc with the circuitry. So everyone should be absolutely
sure that ALL the related power lines are properly grounded and tested out
as such.
Edgar L. Milford, M.D.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Tissue Typing Laboratory
75 Francis Street, Boston, MA, 02115
Tel: 617 - 732-5872
Fax: 617 - 566-6176
CD ROM Vol 2 was produced by staff at the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories
and distributed free of charge as an educational service to the cytometry community.
If you have any comments please direct them to Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director, PUCL,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Phone:(317) 494-0757; FAX (317) 494-0517; Web http://www.cyto.purdue.edu
EMAIL robinson@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu
