Power 101: IEC 62368-1 Explained

The IEC 62368-1 safety standard has replaced both the IEC 60950-1 standard for ICT equipment and the IEC 60065 standard for A/V equipment, giving product vendors a unified approach for regulation compliance efforts. This transition was officiated on December 20th, 2020. This standard functions off the entirely new Hazard-Based Safety Engineering - HBSE - principle, with a new focus on identifying any potentially hazardous energy sources that can cause energy transfer to a user.

The hazard and safeguard analysis are based upon two different three block models: energy, source transfer mechanism, and body part, and energy source, safeguard, and body part. Energy sources include electrical, thermal, chemical, kinetic, and radiated energy. All energy sources are classified according to their potential for bodily harm and fire risk. For Class 3 energy sources, a reinforced safeguard is required in order to protect the user. In electrical energy sources, current and voltage limits now vary, allowing for a more intuitive understanding of potential equipment hazards and the safeguards required.

The new IEC 62368-1 replaces the prescriptive process adopted by legacy standards and gives designers more flexibility to design safety measures appropriate for their products, while also including rigorous analysis to ensure that all products are safe to use.