High current surge panel with diagnostics
First Claim
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1. A surge protection device comprising:
- a plurality of surge protection modules, each of said modules having a first terminal and a second terminal and connected to a first conductor at the first terminal and to a second conductor at the second terminal to provide surge protection between the first conductor and the second conductor;
a peak detector circuit coupled to each of said surge protection modules; and
a printed circuit board (PCB) having the surge protection modules mounted thereon, the PCB having a plurality of conductive layers separated by insulating layers, and a plurality of arrays of through holes extending through the PCB and having conducting material therein, wherein the through holes are adapted to dissipate transient currents by passing the transient currents between the conductive layers through the conducting material.
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Abstract
A transient voltage surge suppressor (TVSS) device, suitable for commercial/industrial applications, incorporates diagnostic circuitry. The TVSS provides seven modes of protection for three phases of a typical electrical service. A surge panel can protect against large current transients. The large current-handling capability stems from passing a large amount of surge current from one layer of a multilayer printed circuit to another through the use of arrays of plated through holes.
18 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A surge protection device comprising:
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a plurality of surge protection modules, each of said modules having a first terminal and a second terminal and connected to a first conductor at the first terminal and to a second conductor at the second terminal to provide surge protection between the first conductor and the second conductor;
a peak detector circuit coupled to each of said surge protection modules; and
a printed circuit board (PCB) having the surge protection modules mounted thereon, the PCB having a plurality of conductive layers separated by insulating layers, and a plurality of arrays of through holes extending through the PCB and having conducting material therein, wherein the through holes are adapted to dissipate transient currents by passing the transient currents between the conductive layers through the conducting material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A surge protection panel comprising:
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a main printed circuit board (PCB) having mounted thereon a plurality of surge protection modules;
a main diagnostic board having diagnostic circuits coupled to each of the surge protection modules; and
a diagnostic display sub-panel having a display device for displaying diagnostic information stored by the diagnostic circuits, and a user interface disposed on an exterior of the panel for retrieving the stored information, wherein the main PCB includes a plurality of a plurality of conductive layers separated by insulating layers, and a plurality of arrays of through holes extending through the PCB and having conducting material therein, the through holes being adapted to dissipate transient currents by passing the transient currents between the conductive layers through the conducting material, the diagnostic circuits each include an open-loop peak detector with an emitter-follower coupled thereto, and the information includes a surge amplitude and a time of a surge event.
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18. A surge protection method comprising the steps of:
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conducting a transient current in a surge event through a surge protection module, the surge protection module being mounted on a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB);
shunting the transient current between layers of the PCB via a plurality of arrays of through holes extending through the PCB and having conducting material therein, thereby dissipating the transient current;
detecting a peak of the transient current;
displaying diagnostic information regarding the surge protection modules;
storing information regarding the surge event; and
displaying information regarding the surge event. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification