The evolution of remote line powering safety standards for facilitating the transmission of elevated dc voltages over twisted pair

This paper discusses the common Line Powering standards for safety with their advantages and their drawbacks. It also discusses the effects of electrical shock and risk of ventricular fibrillation on humans and the two types of faults that can occur with RFT-V line powering. Based on the standards for the effects of current on human beings and livestock, two flowcharts are developed to help unify a method to gauge the safety of RFT-V line powering products. An Excel tool is introduced to assist in the calculating and plotting of the test results from the flowchart. Example waveforms are given from a typical RFT-V product that illustrates the relative risk of ventricular fibrillation. It is concluded that based on the information provided in this paper that RFT-V power topologies will have a low risk of electrocution caused by ventricular fibrillation. Future work discusses how the future safety standards may evolve.