摘要 |
An overvoltage protection circuit is provided for protecting electrical equipment from transients on power lines (41, 42). The circuit has a string of series-connected silicon avalanche diodes (SADs) (40)connected across the power lines (41, 42) to provide an initial clamping threshold before energy-absorbing modules (43a, 43b, 43c) come on line to provide secondary clamping. The modules (43a, 43b, 43c) include a number of metal oxide varistors (MOVs) (44) connected in parallel and a switching device in the form of a gas arrester (45) connected in series with the MOVs (44). A resistance (46) is connected in parallel with the gas arrester (45) to form a high pass filter with the natural capacitance of the MOVs (44). This maintains the voltage across the resistance (46) well below the switch operating level during normal conditions and enables a component such as a 230 V fast acting gas arrester (45) to be used. In an alternative embodiment, the gas arrester (45) may be replaced by a solid state switch, such as a Sidator or a Triac.
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