Devices Related to Electrical Fast-Transient Protection and Detection

Electrical energy from natural occurring phenomena, such as an indirect lightning strike, can electromagnetically couple with nearby electronics thereby generating unwanted electrical fast-transients (EFT) signals in the circuit. Highly energetic EFT can interfere with a circuit’s normal operation or even destroy some circuit components entirely. Mitigating EFT has been a subject of research for decades and led to the development of devices such as lightning surge arresters (LSAs). These devices are critical for the protection of the electrical power grid from lightning induced EFT, however electromagnetic pulses (EMP) and other high-power radio frequency (RF) sources can generate much higher frequency EFT. Legacy protection and detection devices were not designed to handle or measure interference at these frequencies. This work investigates the capabilities of some legacy EFT protection devices at frequencies beyond their designed operating range. In addition, an original circuit model for a key circuit protection component is proposed. Finally, a novel manufacturing method for EFT sensors that ultimately extends the sensors measurement capability further into the frequency domain is explored in this research.