Overcurrent is when an excessive amount of current than the intended amount passes through a conductor or any electric network are frequent events in compact systems with sophisticated electrical wiring. You may have witnessed severe damages of the equipment or fire hazards at your households and workplaces which are the possible after effects of such events. For such extremely sensitive micro components in today’s sensitive electronics you might need an add on to your network such as Fuses, circuit breakers, current limiters, Surge protection devices, etc.
Plugging in too many devices causing circuit overload¸ short circuiting, grounding earthing System fault pave way for electric faults into your systems.
Understand how Protection devices help on that account:
- Circuit breakers or fuses – Properly rated breakers or fuses installed at your main service panel can serve the purpose of handling the overcurrent or limiting the current to the required value prescribed by the manufacturer further protects your electric/ electronic devices.
- Surge protection devices or transient surge suppressors – Speaking of the above said typical circuit breakers and fuses are not capable of detecting huge and sudden voltage spikes called the surges, instead the surges will pass through and blow off the appliances. Hence, surge absorbers are the key component that are an excellent investment capable of shielding life and property from catastrophic effect due to rapid hike in nominal line voltage which are called surges. Surge absorbers implanted in between the device and the main circuit board are critically important passive circuits that protect vulnerable devices by paving way for fault currents safely to the ground.
There are basically different types of SPDs available as per the application and also based on the parameters such as maximum continuous operating voltage and nominal discharge current ratings while choosing the appropriate SPD. One must particularly note that inappropriate choice of SPD can be worthless.
SPDs can be classified into:
- Class B/Type 1: Family of surge protectors fabricated to deal with the prevalent cause of voltage transients- the extremely powerful one- which is Lightning hence is a mandatory requirement of any electrical installation. Class B type SPDs for blocking lightning surges are installed in the main switchboard or at the electricity meter comply to IEC 61643-11 & UL 1449, ensuring effective shielding even from high direct strikes in 10/350µs.
- Class C/Type 2: Surges can originate from turning ON and OFF of electrical appliances that are the switching operations. This is a repeated activity or event that leads to activation of smaller surges that could mysteriously bring your electronic gadgets/ devices associated with that electric network to come to a halt. These smaller and swift yet repeated surges which are difficult to detect can gradually deteriorate the life of your appliances. So, Class C SPDs are fitted as per proper current and voltage rating are designed to route the switching voltage transients to the earth in 8/20µs
- Class B+C/ Type 3: Class B+C SPD is a special class of protection device integrated as a single entity is owing to provide impeccable protection against both Lightning as well as switching surges.
