Analysis of the physical and electrical phenomena in different surge-protective circuits for low-voltage AC power line

Surge protective circuits for low-voltage AC power line are made up with nonlinear passive components, such as gas tube arresters, gaps, varistors (ZnO, SiC) and diodes. Being very different from the electrical characteristics, the advantages and drawbacks of such surge suppressors depend mainly on the type of components used and the possibility of combining them with one another. Based on the study of the degradation of the components under surge current stress, the physical and electrical phenomena in different surge protective circuits have been discussed in this paper. The authors therefore present a comparison of the essential differences in two surge protective circuits on the French market