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Transient Suppressors and Surge Suppressors

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Robust Electronic Design Reference Book

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17.1 Transient Suppressors and Surge Suppressors

We use transient suppressors and surge suppressors to protect electronic devices and circuits from overvoltages caused by:

  • Lightning.

  • Electrostatic discharge ( ESD).

  • Switching transients.

  • Inductive kickback.

  • Shorts and other problems in power wiring.

All transient suppressors and surge suppressors operate on the voltage-divider principle (Figure 17-1):

  • A blocking device detects excessive current flow, and increases its resistance sharply to hold the load current below some limit.

  • A shunting device detects excessive voltage, and switches to a low-impedance state so that the excess current goes through it, and not through the load.

    Figure 17-1
    figure 1

    Voltage Division with Transient/ Surge Protectors

    Full size image

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Authors
  1. John R. Barnes
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© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Barnes, J.R. (2004). Transient Suppressors and Surge Suppressors. In: Barnes, J.R. (eds) Robust Electronic Design Reference Book. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-7830-7_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-7830-7_17

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