What is a voltage spike?
Transitory voltage spikes are a common disruption as electricity enters the home or building. Voltage should follow a sinusoidal pattern but occasionally, the pattern is disturbed, exceeds the range of tolerance (either higher or lower) and are the culprits of severe damage.
How are voltage spikes caused?
Voltage spikes are caused by common scenarios such as blackouts, short circuits, capacitor start up, electrical storms, high demand of energy usage in peak seasons, and more. With users all across the network demanding energy, and consuming it at different levels, controlling and distributing it becomes challenging for local providers.
What are the dangers of voltage spikes?
Voltage spikes can cause serious damage to components of sensitive equipment connected to the line where these spikes appear. Electronic components found in all technology today are vulnerable to transitory high or low voltage resulting in:
- Data loss or corruption
- Operating failure
- Component short circuiting
- Blown fuses
- Overheating
- Reduced life expectancy
- Many more
How to select a surge suppressor
To select a surge suppressor the following points should be taken into account:
- Nominal voltage: This is the voltage in normal operation, for example for single phase systems: 110Vac, 120Vac, 127Vac.
- Electrical configuration: the type of electrical installation in which the surge suppressor is intended to be connected, either single-phase, two-phase or three-phase systems.
- Maximum operating voltage: is the maximum voltage at which the varistor does not conduct, after this voltage, the impedance in the varistor begins to decrease.
- Rated Current: It is the current capacity that the equipment is capable of draining during 15 cycles according to UL 1449 third edition.
- Protection Current: It is the maximum current that can flow through the varistors.
- Protection modes: It can be defined as the route by which the peak current generated by a transient can be diverted. The protection modes depend on the voltage configuration of the system.
What is a low cost solution?
Robust protection such as a Surge Suppressor SPV-IND model by Industronic is the ideal solution for this widespread issue. Not only are appliances, machinery, computers or others protected, but life expectancy is greatly extended and costly damage repair or replacement is avoided. Multiple applications are possible with this versatile product: food industry, pharmaceutical manufacturers, hospitals, telecom, offices, health centers and more. In short, any application where there is a dependence on electronics.
