• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.130-134
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• 2020

Metal oxide varistors (MOVs) protect circuits and devices from transient overvoltages in electric power systems. However, a MOV continuously deteriorates owing to manufacturing defects or repetitive protective operations from transient overvoltages. A deteriorated MOV may result in a short circuit or a line-ground accident. Previous studies focused on the analysis of deterioration mechanisms and condition diagnosis techniques for MOVs owing to their recent growth of use. An accelerated deterioration experiment under the same conditions in which a MOV operates is essential. In this study, we designed and fabricated a surge generator that can apply a surge current to a MOV connected to AC mains. The coupling network operates at a low impedance against the surge current from the surge generator and transfers the surge current to the MOV under test. It also acts as a high impedance against AC mains for the AC voltage not to be applied to the surge generator. The decoupling network operates at a high impedance against the surge current and blocks the surge current from AC mains. It also acts as a low impedance against AC mains for the AC voltage to be applied to the MOV under test. The prototype surge generator can apply the 8/20 us up to 15 kA on AC voltages in the approximate range of 110~450 V, and it fully operates on a LabVIEW-based program.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.178-183
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• 2013

The study of lightning surge have been conducted on information and communications equipment and power system. However, the research on SMPS itself is an inactive field. This paper analyzes surge current path of flyback converter with the combination wave generator by lightning surge. Also, this paper discloses that there exists the surge current with high-frequency component besides the low-frequency component based on the standard surge current. This high-frequency surge current is the major reason to damage the semiconductor devices such as FET and IC. To confirm the validity of the proposed issue, the analysis and experimental results are presented.