Temperature stability of components for overvoltage protection of low-voltage systems

In this paper, we present temperature stability investigations of different overvoltage protection components employed in low-voltage applications. The following components have been examined: transient suppresser diodes, metal-oxide varistors (MOVs), gas-filled surge arresters (GFSAs), and polycarbonate capacitors. The aim of the research presented here is to identify the effectiveness of the overvoltage protection as a function of temperature. Experimental results show that GFSAs have rather stabile operational characteristics in a wide temperature range (from -90/spl deg/C to +210/spl deg/C). As for MOVs, they exhibit certain improvement of their protective characteristics at higher temperatures. Experimental results are backed up by theoretical explanations.