How Surge Protectors Work

With the rapid progress of micro-electric technology, the use of personal PCs, various medium-sized, large and super-large computers, and large program-controlled switches has become more and more popular. Because there are a large number of large-scale or super-large-scale integrated circuits that are very sensitive to overvoltage inside these electronic devices, the losses caused by overvoltage are getting bigger and bigger. In response to this situation, according to the requirements of the "Building Lightning Protection Design Standard", some manufacturers have launched corresponding overvoltage protection products, which are what we often call surge protectors today.

Today, the editor will take you to understand the working principle of the surge protector.

When the surge protector is in a normal state, it is equivalent to an open circuit state and a high resistance state to the ground in the circuit; when the main circuit circuit has an instantaneous overvoltage, such as a lightning strike, the surge is equivalent to a low resistance state in the instantaneous overvoltage state, and it will instantly discharge the surge current and limit the surge voltage.

Surge protector is an electronic device that provides safety protection and protection for instruments, electronic equipment, communication lines and other equipment. Surge protectors can be divided into three types according to different working principles. These three types are voltage switch surge protectors, voltage limiting surge protectors and combined surge protectors.

Working principle of voltage switch type surge protector: When there is no voltage passing, the surge protector will show high impedance, but once the voltage passes, its impedance will become low impedance so that the lightning current can pass.

Working principle of voltage-limiting surge protector: The working principle of voltage-limiting surge protector is very similar to that of voltage-switch type surge protector. When there is no instantaneous voltage passing, the voltage-limiting surge protector is high impedance, but as the surge voltage and current increase, its impedance will continue to decrease. The current and voltage characteristics of the voltage-limiting surge protector are strongly nonlinear.

Working principle of combined surge protector: The combined surge protector is composed of both voltage-limiting components and voltage-switch components, so its working principle has the characteristics of both.

Function of surge protector

When it rains, lightning will generate current, which may damage some equipment. Now more and more people put surge protectors in their equipment. Finally, the editor focuses on the role of surge protectors.

The function of a surge protector is to limit the instantaneous overvoltage of signal transmission lines and power lines within the tolerable range of the system or equipment, so that when no current flows into the ground, the equipment or system will not be damaged.

The above is the working principle of the surge protector. I hope you will have a deeper understanding of the surge protector after reading it.