Have you plugged your valuable electronics directly into a regular wall socket? The modernization of electric networks and system internal circuitries, has made them susceptible to frequent fault occurrences.
How Does Surges Impact Your Electric/Electronics Gadgets?
Transient voltage impulses are injected into your facility and damage assets via direct lightning strike or indirect means through several pathways even if you have installed an external lightning protection scheme. This is a temporary deviation in the voltage or current level from the threshold level prescribed for each device that can adversely affect its operating life. These surge events are dangerous and crucial that occur without any warning sign, they can cause considerable damages/ equipment failure or fires. The surges are majorly a source of lightning strikes from the sky. Apart from lightning there are additional sources that induce surges like - switching, inductive coupling, utility power supply failure and faulty wiring, etc. A lot of new age electrical/ electronic components are small, delicate and sensitive to these electrical faults and hence surge protection is a significant part to every electric network.
How Can You Prevent These Crucial Surges?
Surges are events appearing at the terminals of your devices from the power outlets which are basically the hike in voltage normally imposed on your devices that can crash or ruin its application. They cannot be detected with ease. These electrical outbursts are swift events that enter in and further will stay for a shorter duration of time i.e., for about a few microseconds only making it difficult to detect using normal circuit breakers or fuses. They can be detected only by implementing precise surge suppressors that will block and direct the resulting transients exceeding the threshold level to the ground.
The surge protection devices can be easily implemented yet are crucial units made of components such as metal oxide varistors, Spark gaps or Gas discharge tubes. SPDs can be classified according to the applications, you need to simply plug your vulnerable devices onto these units according to the current and the voltage ratings instead of plugging directly into the normal wall socket.
Installation of Surge Protector to Enhance the Life of Devices
Surge protectors are designed as per site requirement in every sector such as – computer system and its peripherals, substations, communication lines, security and surveillance system, electrical equipment at home or businesses, solar industry, etc. The primary protection unit is a must that is parallelly installed in between the main circuit board and the device which is the Class B surge suppressors installed as lightning strike protectors that acts against the powerful voltage spikes in 10/350 µs. Another inevitable type of SPD is the Class C series of switching surge protection units that are connected in parallel to the devices so as to protect the associated device in 8/20 µs. There is a special class of protectors which is a combination of both class B and class C and acts against both lightning and switching surges in 10/350µs and 8/20µs respectively called the Class B+C Type of surge suppressors.
Surge protection units are specifically designed for every different application and are also available in different voltage ratings that are connected in parallel to the device that is to be protected at a distance not more than 10 meters. While installation one must note that, devices would not be protected effectively if they are beyond 10 meters from the installed SPD. In such a case, a coordinated SPD also needs to be installed for complete surge shielding for your investment.