Design of a Detachable Surge Counter for Surge Protective Devices in Communication and Signaling Networks

This paper proposes a detachable surge counter designed for surge protective devices (SPDs) used in communication and signaling networks. Typically, lightning generates high currents ranging from several ㎄ to hundreds of ㎄, which can induce excessive overvoltage in communication and signaling networks due to electromagnetic coupling or an increase in ground potential. Surge protective devices are used to prevent such occurrences. The proposed surge counter is designed based on international standards, with the counting threshold current carefully set, and it adopts a non-powered design for ease of application in real environments. Additionally, I combined the surge protection device with the proposed surge counter and applied induced lightning currents of 1-5 ㎄ to verify the counting capability. The surge counter proposed in this paper is expected to be useful for the maintenance of SPDs in communication and signaling networks.