Transient Voltage Surge Suppression Rant

Transient Voltage Surge Suppression (TVSS)

Just a few words about TVSS’s.

Whether we believe it or not, surges and spikes occur on our electrical systems every minute of every day and we don’t see them. They can occur when we flip on or off a light, the A/C comes on, a refrigeration compressor comes on or off, an elevator is in use or when a host of other things happen. Prior to everything being controlled by solid-state circuits, we didn’t give this much thought. The Television would go out and we would go down to the corner store, test the tube transistors, find the bad one and replace it (for those of you who are old enough to remember that). But now that everything in our homes, offices and factories are controlled via solid-state (PC board mount) circuitry (which most of us have no idea how to fix) we have to replace it with a new one or we call in someone to make a costly repair of whatever is down. We need to do something about this and we have the tools to do so.

We still act as we did years ago like nothing is happening. Now when something goes out we just say, “oh well, guess I need to replace it”. Why have we become a society of “use, dispose and replace”? We should not think that way. Computers, Lights, Televisions and all other electrical items we use on a day-to-day basis are made better today than they were 10 to 15 years ago but we have been indoctrinated to have a throw it away mentality.

Let me give you an example of what is happening:

Just the simple act of turning on or off a bank of florescent light in an office can cause a spike in excess of 1000 volts on a 120-volt system. I didn’t believe this until it was shown to me using a digital oscilloscope during a training session at a factory. Wow, what damage is occurring with other loads connected to this panel when this happens? Slowly the other connected loads are taking abuse and will fail.

Installing TVSS’s can greatly increase the life of all our electrical devices. Just a simple application of a single unit on a panel servicing lights in a warehouse can save hundreds of dollars a year in material and replacement cost of bulbs and ballasts.

Attached are a few examples of what others have done in their facilities and the cost savings they have enjoyed. We need to stop sitting on our hands and do something. All this talk about “Going Green” is just that; TALK, unless we join in and quit being a disposable society.

What will you do? Just needed to rant a bit.

Scott
docs/TPS_Flyer Green Sustainable.pdf

docs/Preventing Power Surge Problems is Key to Medical Device Operations.mht