New innovations in surge suppressors-the impact on the telecommunication industry

Without clean power, telecommunication equipment is subject to possible upset or catastrophic failure. To cost-effectively eliminate high amplitude surges and fast ringing transients, telecommunication engineers now install transient voltage surge suppressors (TVSS) at the service entrance and/or key branch panels. Their use in large facilities or PCS/cellular sites, protects the investment and maximizes the operating reliability of telco equipment. The surge protection industry is growing rapidly. Today's new integrated designs are equipped with significantly more features and provide a higher level of performance. A 50% improvement in performance is also achieved through new installation configurations. This paper summarizes the recent changes in the surge protection industry and includes the following: an overview of how power quality disturbances affect the reliability of telecommunication equipment; a review of key TVSS product performance factors; an application example illustrating how TVSS units are configured within an overall power quality solution; a discussion of the "breakthrough" performance gains associated with integrating suppressors in electrical distribution equipment; and an overview of new filtering designs and operating diagnostics systems. The material presented in this paper is based on research by Tycor International, IEEE C62.41, power quality studies, and the experiences of various telecommunication companies.