Abstract
In our daily life, almost all the items we used, being a computer, television, lift or vehicle we drive consist of some kind of electrical or electronics component inside. The operation of these devices could be severely affected by lightning activity or electrical switching events, as there are more than 2000 thunderstorms in progress at any time resulting in 100 lightning flashes to ground per second. In practice, any device using electricity will subject to surge damages induced from the lightning or switching of heavy load. Surge protection device (SPD) is added at the power distribution panel and critical process loop to prevent damage subsequently cause plant shutdown. There are many questions raised on the SPD. How can this small device protect the equipment from large energy release by the lightning? What is inside the device? How does it work? This paper provides comprehensive detail in revealing the science and engineering behind the SPD, its individual component characteristic and how does it work. The technical information presented is limited to surge protection on equipment; surge protection for building structure will not be discussed here.
Highlights
NEMA Surge Protection Institute [1] explains surge as an unwanted transient wave of current, voltage or power in an electric circuit
Based on the result of the experiment, for effective equipment protection, the let-through voltage of the surge protection device (SPD) must be lower than the surge withstanding capability (SWC) of the equipment that needs to be protected
The resistor with the parasitic impedance behaves like an inductor blocking the surge current from entering the downstream component
Summary
NEMA Surge Protection Institute [1] explains surge as an unwanted transient wave of current, voltage or power in an electric circuit. BEAMA [2] explains surge or a transient overvoltage is a short duration increase in voltage measured between two or more conductors. Surge can cause catastrophic failure or degrade of electronic equipment. When the surge amplitude is within 600-900V, component degradation will take place or temporary errors could be expected (degradation zone), while values above 900V can cause permanent faults (catastrophe failure zone). To protect equipment from catastrophic and degradation failure surge protection device (SPD) is used. Lightning and surges can enter to the system via resistive, inductive and capacitive coupling [3]
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