Surge arrestor unit
US5436787A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 21, 1993 |
| Grant date | Jul 25, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 21, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01T4/10
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A three-terminal surge arrestor unit employs air gaps augmented with semiconductors to protect a circuit having two ungrounded conductors. Conductive electrodes and the semiconductors are mounted on a common axis in a sandwich arrangement and secured in fixed relative positions. Two air gap lightning arrestors provide current paths for the respective conductors to ground in response to lightning strikes or other damaging surges, and an equalizer is incorporated in the electrode configuration to establish a current path between the conductors to protect them from an excessive voltage differential. The resulting configuration is a single, three-terminal unit designed to replace multiple unit air gap systems and gas tube arrestors.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.