What are some applications that require USB isolation?

USB isolation involves physically separating (isolating) sections of an electrical system to prevent current flow. Isolation is important for several reasons:

– Safety: Isolation prevents electricity from flowing to specified components/sub-systems.

– Signal integrity: Isolating different parts or sub-systems allows for a reduction in electrical noise and interference. This aspect is important when the electronics system in question includes sensitive instruments or components.

– Voltage spike, ground loop, and surge protection: Isolating different parts or sub-systems protects sensitive components from the effects of various voltage fluctuations, often common in industrial environments.

While the most common application of USB isolation is within medical systems, many other industries benefit as well:

– In medical applications, isolation is critical to protect patients and healthcare providers, as well as sensitive instruments, from electrical hazards.

– In automotive electronics systems, isolation is used to protect various control systems from voltage fluctuations.

– In industrial systems, isolation is used to protect control systems from high-voltage equipment, which often also produces a large amount of electrical interference.

– In telecommunications and data communications, isolation is used to protect instruments and prevent electromagnetic interference from disrupting transmissions.

Sealevel offers a wide range of digital & analog I/O adapters with optically isolated inputs, as well as serial I/O devices with optically isolated serial ports.