Smart Surge Protection Devices – How Modern IOT Techniques are Being Employed to Pre-empt Device End-of-Life Smart Surge Protection Devices

Lightning (B)

The risk to equipment, operations, and people from the effects of surges and transients on electrical distribution, data and communication cables is well established. And the need for surge protection is generally well understood by engineering designers, electrical installers and business operators.

Surge protection has a finite lifespan; exposure to excessive voltages, temperatures, harmonics, and the intensity and frequency of surges being diverted all result in a degradation of the performance and reduction in the lifespan of a surge protection device.

Traditionally, surge protection devices have been equipped with a simple “OK” or “Not OK” status indication. This is often nothing more than a simple visual indicator that requires physical inspection of the device – a task often limited to being undertaken by a qualified electrical contractor. This form of indication provides only the current state of the device, and no pre-emptive information on end-of-life of the device. Thus, a surge protection device can fail, and this failure can go unnoticed for an extended period of time due to the inherent time delays in undertaking physical inspections of the devices, resulting in the facility having reduced, or  no protection.

Recent advancements in IoT technologies have opened up opportunities for an alternative method of status monitoring and status indication for surge protection devices.

The aim of this presentation is to present an overview on the technology and methods being employed to monitor detailed operating conditions of surge protection devices and how this information is being utilised to provide a more comprehensive picture of the current and historical state of these devices. The presentation will also look at how the data being collected can be utilised to provide a prediction of end-of-life of a device, enabling facility managers to have prior notice of when surge protection needs to be replaced to ensure continuous protection of their equipment and operations.