The Enemy Within: Understanding and Mitigating Facility-Generated Transients

While lightning strikes grab headlines, the majority of damaging voltage spikes and surges are generated *inside* your facility. Every time a large motor starts, a welding machine fires, or a contactor opens, a high-frequency transient is created. These internal events degrade electronic components over time, leading to premature failure of PLCs, VFDs, and computer equipment.

I. How Internal Transients Occur

These surges are caused by the sudden interruption of current flow in inductive circuits.

• Motor Switching: The single biggest culprit. When large motors or compressors are rapidly energized or de-energized, the collapsing magnetic field creates a high-voltage spike.
• Fuse and Breaker Operation: The sudden clearing of a fault or the switching of power correction capacitors can generate short-duration oscillatory transients.
• Arcing Devices: Faulty relays, contactors, or loose connections produce continuous, low-level arcing that creates damaging, repetitive transient energy.

II. The Coordinated Defense Strategy

Our solution focuses on internal surge suppression (SPD Stage 2 and 3) to protect equipment at the panel and point-of-use.

• Diagnostic Verification: We use the **Fluke 1777**’s high-speed capture (up to 8 kV at 20 MHz) to detect and pinpoint the source of these fast, internal events.
• Layered SPDs: We implement **UL 1449 certified SPDs** at distribution panels (Stage 2) to shunt residual energy, and at critical load points (Stage 3) to provide final protection for your most sensitive electronics.

Conclusion

Protecting your assets from external threats is only half the battle. Our transient suppression audit ensures that your equipment is safe from the surges generated by your own operations.