There is also the 'hybrid' transient suppressor, an assembly consisting of a gas discharge tube, followed by a series resistor (or inductor), followed by a suppression diode. As mentioned by Robert, the gas tube takes time to operate, during which the pulse voltage can rise to hundreds of volts. In the hybrid assembly, the diode clamps the leading edge of the pulse. The resistor allows a voltage to develop across the gas tube, which eventually fires, handling the bulk of the pulse energy. The diode doesn't conduct after the gas tube fires.
Thus the hybrid assembly acts as a fast clamp, and handles large energies. It is of course more costly, and requires some care in the design, to ensure the diode can handle the worse case energy, and to ensure the gas tube always fires. Jeff Chambers ------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Jeff Chambers Westbay Technology Ltd Suppliers of EMC Design Software Tel: +44 1229 869 108 Fax: +44 1229 869 108 http://www.westbay.ndirect.co.uk/westbay1.htm [email protected] Main St Baycliff Ulverston Cumbria LA12 9RN England ------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Ken Javor <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> List-Post: [email protected] Date: 12 January 2000 06:33 Subject: transient suppression > >When choosing transient suppression for power line input to equipment, what >are the choices (MOVs, silicon TVS, glass discharge tubes, others) and what >are the trade-offs? Thank you. > >--------- >This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. >To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] >with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the >quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], >[email protected], [email protected], or >[email protected] (the list administrators). > > --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
