Surge Protection
Surge Protection
Disk varistors are used in surge protection. It is important that the clamping voltage Vclamp is sufficiently low so that sensitive electronic components in the circuit do not experience voltage spikes. Once the clamping voltage is reached, the voltage hardly increases further; it is "clamped". Steeply rising currents are diverted with low resistance. If the current exceeds Ipeak, it can lead to the destruction of the disk varistor. The maximum operating voltage is significantly lower than the clamping voltage.
Functionality during normal operation and during overvoltages
In surge protection, a sensitive electronic component (Load) is protected by a parallel discharge path (VDR), which becomes conductive when the breakdown voltage of the protective element (VDR) is reached. In this way, the surge (Transient) does not reach the sensitive load (Load) and is "clamped" to the clamping voltage (Clamping Voltage).
