DC Overload Behavior of Low-Voltage Varistor-Based Surge Protective Devices

Tsovilis, Thomas E.; Topcagic, Zumret

doi:10.1109/tpwrd.2020.2965764

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For the MOV #10 under test, the first data points on Day 2 peaked at 86 mA, while the last data point on Day 18 settled around 28 mA. From a physical perspective, this decreasing but restorable TOV current might be affected by the charge trapping and recombination processes in grain boundary areas of zinc-oxide ceramic [10,30]. This significant reduction in TOV current over applied pulses forms a distinct contrast to the degradation trend of leakage current, which normally relates a higher leakage current with a degraded MOV [12].…”

Section: (B)mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The TOV region is an intermediate, transitional area that could only be entered temporarily during MOV operations, otherwise, the TOV current will overload the MOV and cause overheating problems [10,30]. The behaviors of MOVs within this TOV region are thus less investigated than the other two regions in literature [30]. However, the MOVs in DCCBs must stay in the TOV region during switching events (t5 to t6) before being cut off by the galvanic disconnect contactor.…”

Section: B Mov Operating Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluation Tests of Metal Oxide Varistors for DC Circuit Breakers

Rockhill

Zhang

et al. 2022

IEEE Open J. Power Energy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With emerging technologies and products in power semiconductors and ultrafast mechanical switches, direct-current circuit breakers (DCCBs) have been developing rapidly. Yet the metal-oxide varistors (MOVs), being the indispensable DCCB components, are less analyzed and tested so far. Generally, MOVs in DCCBs are used to dissipate energy and limit overvoltage surges during switching events. This emerging application of MOVs calls for new design procedures and evaluation tests to ensure MOV performance under non-standard stresses and repetitive energy pulses. In this paper, online-monitored stress endurance tests are performed on MOVs that are employed in a 12 kV DCCB. Most MOVs have endured the DCCB-derived stresses for about 3500 pulses with little variation in their voltage-current characteristics, while only one fails after 1000 pulse tests and gets damaged by a shunt conductive channel. Different from conventional operating points of MOVs in their voltage-current characteristics, the MOVs in DCCB applications are found to work routinely in the temporary overvoltage (TOV) region with a decreasing TOV current over time. As these behaviors of MOVs are scarcely reported in the literature or covered by their datasheets, this study presents one of the first publicly available endurance test data that address the knowledge gaps about energy-dissipating MOVs in switchgear applications.

show abstract

Section: (B)mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: B Mov Operating Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation Tests of Metal Oxide Varistors for DC Circuit Breakers

Rockhill

Zhang

et al. 2022

IEEE Open J. Power Energy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…If the input energy to a surge arrester exceeds the thermal energy absorption limit, the arrester is pushed into a thermal runaway condition [43], and consequently the MOV blocks eventually become so conductive that these blocks cannot support even the maximum continuous operating voltage. More information on thermal runaway can be found in [44]. That is, the surge arrester will be completely short-circuited [42].…”

Section: Frequency-dependent Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing the Protective Performance of Surge Arresters against Indirect Lightning Strikes via an Inductor-Based Filter

Pourakbari‐Kasmaei

Lehtonen

2020

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Preventing the medium voltage (MV) transformer fault by protecting transformers against indirect lightning strikes plays a crucial role in enhancing the continuous service to electricity consumers. Surge arresters, if selected properly, are efficient devices in providing adequate protection for MV transformers against transient overvoltage impulses while preventing unwanted service interruptions. However, compared to other protective devices such as the spark gap, their prices are relatively high. The higher the surge arrester rating and energy absorption capacity are, the higher the prices go. This paper proposes an inductor-based filter to limit the energy pushed into the surge arrester, and consequently to prevent any unwanted failure. An energy-controlled switch is proposed to simulate the fault of the surge arrester. Surge arresters with different ratings, e.g., 12 kV, 18 kV, 24 kV, 30 kV, 36 kV, and 42 kV with two different classes of energy, namely, type a and type b, are tested under different indirect lightning impulses such as 100 kV, 125 kV, 150 kV, 175 kV, 200 kV, 250 kV, 300 kV, and 500 kV. Furthermore, these surge arresters are equipped with different filter sizes of 100 μH, 250 μH, 500 μH, and 1 mH. Results prove that equipping a surge arrester with a proper filter size enhances the performance of the surge arrester significantly such that a high rating and somewhat expensive surge arrester can be replaced by a low rating and cheap surge arrester while providing similar or even better protective performance for MV transformers. Therefore, such configurations not only enhance the protective capability of surge arrester, but also reduce the planning and operating costs of MV networks.

show abstract

“…Several monitoring devices are developed for the arrester on-line test [14][15][16]. Several methods exist in the surge protection industry for detecting and disconnecting the defective arresters [17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on operation voltage monitoring and electrothermal coupling simulation of electric multiple unit (EMU) roof arrester

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The roof arrester of electric multiple units (EMU) can efficiently limit the overvoltage, and ensure the safe operation of the EMU electrical equipment. In the process of highspeed operation, the traction power supply system is often affected by overvoltage. In addition, roof arrester explosion accidents occasionally occur. In this paper, the on-line voltage measurement system of the EMU arrester is developed. By analysing a large number of voltage waveforms, the abnormal voltage is divided into three categories: over-phase voltage, high harmonic voltage and steep impulse overvoltage. The characteristics of abnormal voltage waveforms are then summarised. The electrothermal coupling simulation model of the arrester is developed, and the current response and temperature distribution of the arrester under abnormal voltage are calculated. The impact of the impulse voltage energy on the arrester temperature is studied by applying a triangular wave voltage to the model. Finally, some suggestions are proposed for the operation and maintenance of the roof arrester.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

show abstract

DC Overload Behavior of Low-Voltage Varistor-Based Surge Protective Devices

Cited by 20 publications

References 13 publications

Evaluation Tests of Metal Oxide Varistors for DC Circuit Breakers

Evaluation Tests of Metal Oxide Varistors for DC Circuit Breakers

Enhancing the Protective Performance of Surge Arresters against Indirect Lightning Strikes via an Inductor-Based Filter

Study on operation voltage monitoring and electrothermal coupling simulation of electric multiple unit (EMU) roof arrester

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About