INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Because of the diversity and importance of transients, standards organizations have created specifications for testing the effects of overvoltages on equipment.

The phenomena were first characterized and a series of standardized waves created (1.2/50µs voltage wave and 8/20µs and 10/350µs current waveforms), then a number of standards defining surge arrester performance were issued, among them :

 

Surge Protectors for Low-Voltage installations

  • NF EN 61643-11 (France)
  • VDE 0675-6-11 (Germany)
  • EN 61643-11 (Europe)
  • UL1449 (USA)
  • IEC 61643-11 (International)

 

Surge protectors for PV installations

  •  EN 61643-31 (Europe)

  •  IEC 61643-31 (International)

 

Surge Protectors for Telecom equipment

  • IEC 61643-21 (International)

  • ITU-T recommendations K11, K12, K17, K20, K21, K36 (International)

  • UL 497 A/B/E (USA)

 

Standards situation

• The IEC 61643-11 standard defines the performance requirements for surge arresters designed to protect equipment connected to the low-voltage electrical network from the effects of lightning strikes.

• The IEC 61643-21 standard defines the performance requirements for surge arresters intended for communication networks (telecoms, data transmission, etc.)