Patent ID: 7372706

Claim:
A rack-mountable in-line surge protection system comprising: a chassis that mounts to an equipment rack, the chassis including: an electrically-conductive buss; an electrically-conductive ground member coupled to the buss and that connects to a grounding mechanism with the grounding mechanism received by the ground member; and a plurality of electrically-conductive bias members coupled to the buss; and a plurality of surge-protection modules removably inserted into and coupled to the chassis, the modules each including a printed circuit board and first and second receptacles for receiving connectors and coupling the connectors to the circuit board, the circuit boards each including a grounding contact portion and surge protection circuitry that inhibits an electrical surge received at the first receptacle from reaching the second receptacle; wherein the circuit boards are disposed between respective bias members when inserted in the chassis, with the grounding contact portion of each circuit board in electrical contact with at least a respective one of the bias members.