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Power Surges: Air Conditioners Refrigerators Motors

Power surges occur when something temporarily increases the voltage in electrical lines, which can damage electronics. They are caused by lightning strikes, the operation of high-power devices like elevators and air conditioners, and inductive devices like motors. These events cause brief but intense increases in current and voltage that can overload surge protectors and damage electrical components over time.

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Mozammeer Deenmahomed
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44 views1 page

Power Surges: Air Conditioners Refrigerators Motors

Power surges occur when something temporarily increases the voltage in electrical lines, which can damage electronics. They are caused by lightning strikes, the operation of high-power devices like elevators and air conditioners, and inductive devices like motors. These events cause brief but intense increases in current and voltage that can overload surge protectors and damage electrical components over time.

Uploaded by

Mozammeer Deenmahomed
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Power Surges

Power surges occur when something boosts the electrical charge at some point in the power lines. This causes an increase in the electrical potential energy, which can increase the current flowing to your wall outlet. A number of different things can cause this to happen.

Lightning

When lightning strikes near a power line, whether it's underground, in a building or running along poles, the electrical energy can boost electrical pressure by millions of olts. This causes an e!tremely large power surge that will o erpower almost any surge protector.

The operation of high-power electrical devices

i.e. ele ators, air conditioners and refrigerators These high-powered pieces of e"uipment re"uire a lot of energy to switch on and turn off components like compressors and motors. This switching creates sudden, brief demands for power, which upset the steady oltage flow in the electrical system. While these surges are nowhere near the intensity of a lightning surge, they can be se ere enough to damage components, immediately or gradually, and they occur regularly in most building's electrical systems.

#ach time you turn on, turn off, load, or unload an inducti e de ice, you produce a transient. $nducti e de ices are those de ices that use %magnetic mass% to function. #!amples of inducti e loads are motors and transformers. The inducti e %kick% from a &-horsepower motor turning on can produce a transient in e!cess of ',((( olts. A motor with a faulty winding, commutator, or other insulation faults can produce a continuous stream of transients e!ceeding )(( olts* # en transformers can produce a large transient, particularly when energi+ing. $nterestingly enough, this isn't produced the way many people think ,from the sudden load on the system-, but is a result of the collapse of the magnetic field upon energi+ing the transformer. .tatic electricity ,also called %electrostatic discharge%- can generate up to /(,((( olts. This type of ha+ard is ery dependent upon en ironmental conditions and areas with lower humidity ha e the worst problems. Arcing can generate transients from a number of sources. 0aulty contacts in breakers, switches, and contactors can produce an arc when oltage 1umps the gap. When this gap is %1umped% the oltage rises suddenly and the most common effect is an oscillat ory-ring-type transient. 0aulty connections and grounds can produce arcing.

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