The invention relates to an overvoltage protection device with monitoring and communication functions, in particular for the information and process industries, having at least one surge arrester with a self-diagnostics unit and a wireless and/or wired standard interface for data transmission. According to the invention, an additional module is provided to detect the behaviour and/or the properties of a connected electrical energy source, wherein a bidirectional exchange of data and commands to and between a higher-level control system and among multiple overvoltage protection devices takes place and parametrisation of lower-level terminals to be protected can be realised via the standard interface.

The present invention provides for an electronic barrier device, which can form part of a further device such as an isolating barrier or a zener barrier, and comprising a voltage limiter such as at least one zener device for voltage limitation in a circuit during a fault condition, the barrier device including a crowbar device arranged to latch across the at least one zener device to reduce power dissipation in the at least one zener device in the circuit fault condition, wherein the crowbar device is arranged to latch responsive to a change in a current sensed in the barrier device.

A surge protection device includes: an impedance device, a voltage-limiting surge protector, and a switching surge protector. The impedance device is connected in parallel with the voltage-limiting surge protector. A parallel branch of the impedance device and the voltage-limiting surge protector is connected in series with the switching surge protector to form a discharge channel of a lightning impulse current. A series branch of the impedance device and the switching surge protector forms a discharge channel of a follow current. The surge protection device and system of the present invention can effectively improve the capability to withstand multiple pulses and prevent failure of arc-quenching.

The present application provides a surge protection circuit, a lightning protector and an electronic device. The surge protection circuit includes a first protection module, the first protection module comprises a first protection sub-module and a second protection sub-module electrically connected to the first protection sub-module. The first protection sub-module is used for surge protection during a first surge input, the second protection sub-module is used for surge protection during a second surge input protection, and the second surge strength is higher than the strength of the first surge. The surge protection circuit, lightning protection and electronic equipment could provide different levels of surge protection for different levels of surge and could greatly enhance the sensitivity of lightning protection.

A TVS circuit having a first diode with a cathode coupled to a first terminal and an anode coupled to a first node. A second diode has an anode coupled to a second node and a cathode coupled to a third node. A third diode is coupled between the first node and second node. A fourth diode is coupled between the first node and third node. A fifth diode is coupled between the second node and a second terminal. A sixth diode is coupled between the second terminal and the third node. A seventh diode can be coupled between the second terminal and an intermediate node between the fifth diode and sixth diode. The first diode is disposed on a first semiconductor die, while the second diode is disposed on a second semiconductor die. Alternatively, the first diode and second diode are disposed on a single semiconductor die.

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device includes: a first resistor coupled between a first input terminal of the ESD protection device and a first node of the ESD protection device; a second resistor coupled between the first node and a first output terminal of the ESD protection device; and a first ESD protection component coupled between the first node and a reference voltage terminal of the ESD protection device, where the reference voltage terminal is configured to be coupled to a reference voltage.

A method for reducing and/or managing energy-related stress in an electrical system includes processing electrical measurement data from or derived from energy-related signals captured by at least one intelligent electronic device (IED) in the electrical system to identify and track at least one energy-related transient in the electrical system. An impact of the at least one energy-related transient on equipment in the electrical system is quantified, and one or more transient-related alarms are generated in response to the impact of the at least one energy-related transient being near, within or above a predetermined range of the stress tolerance of the equipment. The transient-related alarms are prioritized based in part on at least one of the stress tolerance of the equipment, the stress associated with one or more transient events, and accumulated energy-related stress on the equipment. One or more actions are taken in the electrical system in response to the transient-related alarms to reduce energy-related stress on the equipment in the electrical system.

A method for reducing and/or managing energy-related stress in an electrical system includes processing electrical measurement data from or derived from energy-related signals captured by at least one intelligent electronic device (IED) in the electrical system to identify and track at least one energy-related transient in the electrical system. An impact of the at least one energy-related transient on equipment in the electrical system is quantified, and one or more transient-related alarms are generated in response to the impact of the at least one energy-related transient being near, within or above a predetermined range of the stress tolerance of the equipment. The transient-related alarms are prioritized based in part on at least one of the stress tolerance of the equipment, the stress associated with one or more transient events, and accumulated energy-related stress on the equipment. One or more actions are taken in the electrical system in response to the transient-related alarms to reduce energy-related stress on the equipment in the electrical system.

An apparatus includes a plurality of surge protection devices (e.g., multiple metal oxide varistors connected in parallel) configured to be coupled to a power system, a plurality of mechanical actuators associated with respective ones of the surge protection devices and configured to indicate status of the associated surge protection devices, and a detector circuit configured to sense actuation of the actuators and responsively determine a protection status of the plurality of surge protection devices. The detector circuit may include a plurality of switches configured to be actuated by respective ones of the actuators. The detector circuit may further include a processor coupled to the plurality of switches and configured to determine states of switches and to determine the protection status based on the determined status of the switches. The processor may be configured to interpret the status of the switches based on a stored identifier.

An electrical receptacle contains a plug outlet that has a pair of contacts for electrical connection to respective hot and neutral power lines. A controlled switch, such as a TRIAC, is connected in series relationship between the outlet contact and the hot power line. Sensors in the receptacle outputs signals to a processor having an output coupled to the control terminal of the controlled switch. The processor outputs an activation signal or a deactivation signal to the controlled switch in response to received sensor signals that are indicative of conditions relative to the first and second contacts.