US3683234A - Protective device comprising a plurality of serially connected spark gaps - Google Patents

Protective device comprising a plurality of serially connected spark gaps Download PDF

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Publication number
US3683234A
US3683234A US824125A US3683234DA US3683234A US 3683234 A US3683234 A US 3683234A US 824125 A US824125 A US 824125A US 3683234D A US3683234D A US 3683234DA US 3683234 A US3683234 A US 3683234A
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Prior art keywords
gaps
voltage
gap
facility
resistors
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Expired - Lifetime
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US824125A
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English (en)
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Arnold Rodewald
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03K—PULSE TECHNIQUE
    • H03K3/00—Circuits for generating electric pulses; Monostable, bistable or multistable circuits
    • H03K3/02—Generators characterised by the type of circuit or by the means used for producing pulses
    • H03K3/53—Generators characterised by the type of circuit or by the means used for producing pulses by the use of an energy-accumulating element discharged through the load by a switching device controlled by an external signal and not incorporating positive feedback
    • H03K3/537—Generators characterised by the type of circuit or by the means used for producing pulses by the use of an energy-accumulating element discharged through the load by a switching device controlled by an external signal and not incorporating positive feedback the switching device being a spark gap
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01T—SPARK GAPS; OVERVOLTAGE ARRESTERS USING SPARK GAPS; SPARKING PLUGS; CORONA DEVICES; GENERATING IONS TO BE INTRODUCED INTO NON-ENCLOSED GASES
    • H01T4/00—Overvoltage arresters using spark gaps
    • H01T4/16—Overvoltage arresters using spark gaps having a plurality of gaps arranged in series
    • H01T4/20—Arrangements for improving potential distribution
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02H—EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS
    • H02H9/00—Emergency protective circuit arrangements for limiting excess current or voltage without disconnection
    • H02H9/04—Emergency protective circuit arrangements for limiting excess current or voltage without disconnection responsive to excess voltage
    • H02H9/06—Emergency protective circuit arrangements for limiting excess current or voltage without disconnection responsive to excess voltage using spark-gap arresters

Definitions

  • a protective device for protecting a facility from damage due to an unexpected 1ncrease 1n the normal voltage on said facility, said protective device com- Fm'elgn Apphcanon Pnonty Data prising a plurality of spark gaps, said gaps being seri- May 17,1968 Switzerland ..7368/68 ally a said m respondmg plurality of res1stors, one of sa1d resistors 52 us. c1.
  • spark gaps that have an impulse ratio smaller than 1 are required.
  • Impulse ratio is understood to be the ratio of the flashover voltage under an impulse voltage load to the flashover voltage under a steady d.c. or an ac. voltage load.
  • Such spark gaps are needed for instance in overvoltage diverters or as components of a multistage Marx impulse generator circuit.
  • Such spark gaps can be used to suppress overvoltages that are superimposed upon a working voltage, a working voltage in this context being understood to be a d.c. voltage or an industrial frequency ac. voltage.
  • the ratio of the flashover voltages under an impulse voltage load and the working voltage should be as low as possible. This criterion is of particular importance because the dimensioning of the insulation is determined by the magnitude of the overvoltages. In other words, if the overvoltages are limited, for instance by a protective device, the required dimensioning of the insulation may possibly turn out to be more economical than would be the case if the full magnitude of the overvoltage had to be taken into account.
  • the flashover delay of the spark gap i.e., the time which elapses between the appearance of an overvoltage and potential breakdown between the electrodes should be a minimum. A long flashover delay would still expose the insulation of the apparatus which is to be protected to a high overvoltage before the protective action of the spark gap became effective.
  • spark gap arrangements are known in the art to provide an impulse ratio smaller than I.
  • Uniform field spark gaps such as sphere gaps or plate gaps which have a pin insulatedly embedded in one of the electrodes.
  • the pin is connected to the main electrode i.e., the sphere or plate exclusively through a high ohmic resistance.
  • the main electrode i.e., the sphere or plate exclusively through a high ohmic resistance.
  • an impulse voltage is applied to the two electrodes, then the delay in transmitting the charge to the pin may result in the development of considerable potential difference between the pin and the main electrode.
  • the arrangement therefore functions like a point-plate gap and flashover develops after the delay characteristic of uniform field spark gaps following the appearance of the impulse voltage.
  • An impulse factor of about 0.8 can be achieved with an electrode arrangement of this kind.
  • the resistance control becomes ineffective.
  • the voltage distribution in the multiple spark gap is determined exclusively by the capacitances between the several electrodes and the stray capacitances of these electrodes to the two voltage-carrying conductors, e.g., high voltage electrodes and earth electrodes.
  • This voltage distribution is exponential across the gap.
  • some of the constituent gaps are over-stressed. Breakdown occurs and the other constituent gaps are then over-stressed so that in this way flashover develops across the entire multiple gap. 3.
  • Apart from these passive electrode arrangements which have an impulse factor below 1 electrode arrangements have been proposed in which flashover can be induced below the working voltage level by a trigger device.
  • overvoltage protection then functions to provide part of the overvoltage as a control signal for the trigger device which usually initiates breakdown in the gaps by the generation of one or more auxiliary sparks.
  • the major difference from the previously mentioned arrangement resides in that flashover in such a controlled spark gap depends upon the proper functioning of the trigger device. If any one component of the trigger device should fail, then malfunctioning of the entire arrangement is likely.
  • the present invention relates to a multiple spark gap comprising a chain of serially connected constituent gaps, in which a resistor is connected across each constituent gap for controlling the potential of the constituent electrodes, and these resistors are themselves connected in series.
  • the constituent electrodes in such a multiple gap are alternately capacitively coupled to one and the other end of the chain. The required breakdown resistance to the working voltage can be assured in conventional manner by resistor control.
  • the drawing represents a multiple spark gap comprising five constituent gaps, 1 and 8 being the spark gap terminals, 2 to 7 electrodes and 9 resistors, whereas 14 symbolizes the stray capacitances between the electrodes23,3-4,4-5,56and67.
  • the constituent gaps are fonned between the electrodes 2 and 3, 3 and 4, and v5, 5 and 6, and 6 and 7. In the illustrated embodiment all these electrode gaps are of the same length. So long as only the working voltage appears between the terminals 1 and 8 the potential distribution along the electrode chain is controlled by the resistors. According to their number and assuming that the resistors 9 are all equal, the potential across each gap will be one-fifth of the working voltage.
  • the electrodes 4 and 6 are coupled to the terminal 1 by a conductor 10 and capacitors 11, whereas the electrodes 3 and 5 are coupled to the other terminal 8 by a conductor 13 including capacitors 12. If the capacitance of the capacitors 11 and 12 substantially exceeds the stray capacitances 14 indicated by chain lines between the constituent electrodes of the multiple spark gap, then the potential distribution via the capacitors 12, 14, 11 will be such that substantially the full impulse voltage across the terminals 1 and 8 will simultaneously also appear across the electrode pairs 2 and 3, 3 and 4, 5 and 6 as well as 6 and 7.
  • the breakdown resistance to an impulse voltage therefore substantially depends upon the resistance to the impulse voltage of the gap between two constituent electrodes. In the embodiment shown in the drawing comprising five constituent gaps the resistance to an impulse voltage will therefore be roughly one-fifth of the resistance of the electrode system to a working voltage.
  • the described principle of construction permits the impulse factor to be reduced as desired by a suitable fine subdivision of the multiple spark gap.
  • the described arrangement has the advantage that it permits the flashover voltage under impulse stress to be adjusted independently of the flashover voltage under d.c. or ac. voltage stress, simply by providing a suitable number of constituent gaps, as has been described. Moreover, if the number of constituent gaps is fixed, it is still possible by variation of the capacitances of the control capacitors 11 and 12 to vary the impulse potential load will definitely not cause a flashover.
  • the impulse ratio can be reduced as much as desired by sufficiently fine subdivision. Impulse factors of 0.1 and even less are readily obtainable.
  • a protective device for protecting a facility from damage due to an unexpected increase in the normal voltage on said facility, said protective device comprising a plurality of spark gaps, said gaps being serially connected, in a chain, across said facility; a corresponding plurality of resistors, one of said resistors being connected in parallel across each of said gaps, and in series with the rest of said resistors across said facility, to control the potential developed across each gap: a plurality of capacitors directly connecting alternate electrodes of each gap to opposite ends of said device whereby any unexpected voltage increase which occurs is immediately and directly coupled by said capacitors to each of said gaps.

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  • Generation Of Surge Voltage And Current (AREA)
  • Emergency Protection Circuit Devices (AREA)
US824125A 1968-05-17 1969-05-13 Protective device comprising a plurality of serially connected spark gaps Expired - Lifetime US3683234A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CH736868A CH493117A (de) 1968-05-17 1968-05-17 Gesteuerte Mehrfachfunkenstrecke

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3683234A true US3683234A (en) 1972-08-08

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US824125A Expired - Lifetime US3683234A (en) 1968-05-17 1969-05-13 Protective device comprising a plurality of serially connected spark gaps

Country Status (4)

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US (1) US3683234A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
CH (1) CH493117A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE1925149A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1257668A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4004193A (en) * 1975-03-17 1977-01-18 General Electric Company Voltage surge arrester with capacitive grading and improved sparkover for fast impulses
US5327316A (en) * 1990-10-09 1994-07-05 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy Power terminal protection device
US20080278877A1 (en) * 2005-12-09 2008-11-13 Hiotshi Kijima Overvoltage Protective Device and Method of Overvoltage Protection
US20230318288A1 (en) * 2022-03-30 2023-10-05 Sichuan Zhongguang Lightning Protection Technologies Co., Ltd. Surge protective device

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2179214B (en) * 1985-08-05 1989-08-16 Dubilier Plc Surge voltage protection arrangements
RU2191454C2 (ru) 2000-06-27 2002-10-20 Открытое акционерное общество "Научно-производственное объединение "Стример" Импульсный грозовой разрядник для линии электропередачи (варианты) и колонка импульсных разрядников
RU2292617C1 (ru) * 2005-08-02 2007-01-27 Закрытое акционерное общество "Завод энергозащитных устройств" Устройство для защиты от перенапряжений
CN114336553B (zh) * 2020-09-30 2024-02-20 四川中光防雷科技股份有限公司 一种电涌保护器
CN114336554A (zh) * 2020-09-30 2022-04-12 四川中光防雷科技股份有限公司 一种多层间隙型电涌保护器

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2611108A (en) * 1941-09-24 1952-09-16 Asea Ab Electrical lightning arrester
US2611107A (en) * 1941-09-24 1952-09-16 Asea Ab Electric lightning arrester
US3510726A (en) * 1967-10-31 1970-05-05 Westinghouse Electric Corp Grading and cascading circuit for lightning arresters having a plurality of spark gaps

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2611108A (en) * 1941-09-24 1952-09-16 Asea Ab Electrical lightning arrester
US2611107A (en) * 1941-09-24 1952-09-16 Asea Ab Electric lightning arrester
US3510726A (en) * 1967-10-31 1970-05-05 Westinghouse Electric Corp Grading and cascading circuit for lightning arresters having a plurality of spark gaps

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4004193A (en) * 1975-03-17 1977-01-18 General Electric Company Voltage surge arrester with capacitive grading and improved sparkover for fast impulses
US5327316A (en) * 1990-10-09 1994-07-05 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy Power terminal protection device
US20080278877A1 (en) * 2005-12-09 2008-11-13 Hiotshi Kijima Overvoltage Protective Device and Method of Overvoltage Protection
EP1959533A4 (en) * 2005-12-09 2009-03-25 Hitoshi Kijima OVERVOLTAGE PROTECTION DEVICE AND OVERVOLTAGE PROTECTION METHOD
US7764481B2 (en) 2005-12-09 2010-07-27 Hitoshi Kijima Overvoltage protective device and method of overvoltage protection
US20230318288A1 (en) * 2022-03-30 2023-10-05 Sichuan Zhongguang Lightning Protection Technologies Co., Ltd. Surge protective device

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB1257668A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-12-22
CH493117A (de) 1970-06-30
DE1925149A1 (de) 1969-11-27

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