Patent ID: 9054519
Filing Date: 2015-06-09
Classification: H02H

Abstract:
1. An electrical circuit comprising a power supply, a load and a surge protection device adapted to protect said load and/or power supply from voltage and/or current surges caused by electrical fast transient events according to the requirements of IEC 61000-4-2 or 4 by automatically creating a shunt in said electrical circuit, in which said surge protection device comprises a voltage and/or current stress threshold at which it automatically creates a shunt in said electrical circuit, in which the electrical circuit further comprises a monitoring device adapted to monitor the current in said surge protection device and detect the breaching of said stress threshold by electrical fast transient events, in which an output of said monitoring device is connected to a diagnostic means, in which said diagnostic means is adapted to discern from raw data received from said output if said stress threshold has been breached in use, in which said diagnostic means is adapted to present human discernable data to a user derived from said raw data, in which the human discernable data presented by the diagnostic means includes at least: the detection of a breach of said stress threshold by an electrical fast transient event; the number of times a breach of said stress threshold by an electrical fast transient event has been detected; and, the frequency of breaches of said stress threshold by an electrical fast transient event; in which if the detected frequency of breaches of said stress threshold is within a predetermined shorter frequency limit a particular warning is presented to said user indicating that there may be a frequent fault that could imminently cause said surge protection device to fail, and in which if the detected frequency of breaches of said stress threshold is beyond a predetermined infrequent frequency limit, then a particular status report is presented to said user indicating that maintenance or repair of said surge protection device can be postponed to a much later time, or after a higher number of breaches of said stress threshold.