Voltage spike

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Voltage spike

In electrical engineering, spikes are fast, short duration electrical transients in voltage (voltage spikes), current (current spike), or transferred energy (energy spikes) in an electrical circuit.

Fast, short duration electrical transients (overvoltage

Overvoltage

When the voltage in a Electrical network or part of it is raised above its upper design limit, this is known as overvoltage. The conditions may be hazardous....
s) in the electric potential

Electric potential

At a point in space, the electric potential is the potential energy per unit of electric charge that is associated with a static electric field....
of a circuit

Electrical network

An electrical network is an interconnection of electrical elements such as resistors, inductors, capacitors, transmission lines, voltage sources, current sources, and switches....
are typically caused by

In the design of critical infrastructure and military hardware, one concern is of pulses produced by nuclear explosion

Nuclear explosion

A nuclear explosion occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from an intentionally high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission, nuclear fusion or a multistage cascading combination of the two, though to date all fusion based weapons have used a fission device to initiate fusion, and a pure fusion weapon...
s , whose nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP

EMP

EMP or Emp may refer to:In organizations:*Ericsson Mobile Platforms, a division of the Ericsson group.*Estado Mayor Presidencial, the presidential guard in Mexico....
) distribute large energies in frequencies from 1 kHz into the Gigahertz range through the atmosphere.

The effect of a voltage spike is to produce a corresponding increase in current

Electric current

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Overvoltage

When the voltage in a Electrical network or part of it is raised above its upper design limit, this is known as overvoltage. The conditions may be hazardous....
s) in the electric potential

Electric potential

At a point in space, the electric potential is the potential energy per unit of electric charge that is associated with a static electric field....
of a circuit

Electrical network

lightning
Lightning

File:Blesk.jpgLightning is an Earth's atmosphere discharge of electricity usually accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcano or dust storms....
strikes
power outages
tripped circuit breaker
Circuit breaker

A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated Electricity switch designed to protect an Electrical network from damage caused by Overcurrent or short circuit....
s
short circuit
Short circuit

A short circuit in an electrical circuit that allows a Electric current along a different path from the one intended.The electrical opposite of a short circuit is an "open circuit", which is an infinite resistance between two nodes....
s
power transitions in other large equipment on the same power line
malfunctions caused by the power company
electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse

The term electromagnetic pulse has the following meanings:# Electromagnetic radiation from an explosion or an intensely change magnetic field caused by Compton scattering electrons and photoelectrons from photons scattering in the materials of the electronic or explosive device or in a surrounding Transmission medium....
s (EMP) with electromagnetic
Electromagnetism

Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field, a field which exerts a force on Elementary particles with the property of electric charge and which is reciprocally affected by the presence and motion of such particles....
energy distributed typically up to the 100 kHz and 1 MHz frequency range.
Inductive spikes

In the design of critical infrastructure and military hardware, one concern is of pulses produced by nuclear explosion

Nuclear explosion

EMP

Electric current

Electric current is the flow of electric charge. The electric charge may be either electrons or ions.The International System of Units unit of electric current intensity is the ampere....
(current spike). However some voltage spikes may be created by current sources. Voltage would increase as necessary so that a constant current will flow. Current from a discharging inductor

Inductor

An inductor is a Passive component Electronic component that can store energy in a magnetic field created by the electric current passing through it....
is one example.

For sensitive electronics

Electronics

Electronics refers to the flow of charge through nonmetal electrical conductor , whereas electrical refers to the flow of charge through metal electrical conductor....
, excessive current can flow if this voltage spike exceeds a material's breakdown

Electrical breakdown

The term electrical breakdown has several similar but distinctly different meanings. The term can apply to the failure of an electrical network....
voltage, or if it causes avalanche breakdown

Avalanche breakdown

Avalanche breakdown is a phenomenon that can occur in both Electrical insulation and Semiconductor materials. It is a form of electric current multiplication that can allow very large currents to flow within materials which are otherwise good insulators....
. In semiconductor

Semiconductor

A semiconductor is a material that has electrical conductivity between those of a Electrical conductor and an electrical insulation; it can vary over that wide range either permanently or dynamically....
junctions

P-n junction

A p-n junction is a junction formed by combining P-type semiconductor and N-type semiconductor semiconductors together in very close contact.The term junction refers to the region where the two regions of the semiconductor meet....
, excessive electrical current may destroy or severely weaken that device. An avalanche diode

Avalanche diode

An avalanche diode is a diode that is designed to go through avalanche breakdown at a specified reverse bias voltage and conduct as a type of voltage reference....
, transient voltage suppression diode

Transient voltage suppression diode

A transient voltage suppression diode is an electronic component used to protect sensitive electronics from voltage spikes induced on connected wires....
, transil, varistor

Varistor

A varistor is an electronic component with a significant non-Ohm current?voltage characteristic. The name is a portmanteau of resistor#Variable resistors....
, overvoltage crowbar

Crowbar (circuit)

A crowbar circuit is an electrical circuit used to prevent an overvoltage condition of a power supply unit from damaging the circuits attached to the power supply....
, or a range of other overvoltage

Overvoltage

When the voltage in a Electrical network or part of it is raised above its upper design limit, this is known as overvoltage. The conditions may be hazardous....
protective devices can divert (shunt

Shunt (electrical)

In electronics, a shunt is a device which allows electric current to pass around another point in the electrical network. The term is also widely used in photovoltaics to describe an unwanted short circuit between the front and back surface contacts of a solar cell, usually caused by wafer damage....
) this transient current thereby minimizing voltage.

While generally referred to as a voltage spike, the phenomenon in question is actually an energy spike, in that it is measured not in volt

Volt

The volt is the SI SI derived unit of electric potential difference or electromotive force, commonly known as voltage. It is named in honor of the Lombard physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery ....
s but in joule

Joule

The joule is the SI derived unit of energy in the International System of Units. It is defined as:One joule is the amount of energy required to perform the following actions:...
s; a transient response

Transient response

In electrical engineering and Mechanical Engineering, a transient response or natural response is the response of a system to a change from equilibrium....
defined by a mathematical product of voltage

Voltage

Electrical tension is the potential difference between two points of an electrical or electronic circuit, expressed in volts. It is the measurement of the potential for an electric field to cause an electric current in an electrical conductor....
, current

Electric current

Electric current is the flow of electric charge. The electric charge may be either electrons or ions.The International System of Units unit of electric current intensity is the ampere....
, and time.

Voltage spike may be created by a rapid buildup or decay of a magnetic field, which may induce energy into the associated circuit. However voltage spikes can also have more mundane causes such as a fault in a transformer

Transformer

A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one electrical network to another through inductive coupling conductors — the transformer's coils or "windings"....
or higher-voltage (primary circuit) power wires falling onto lower-voltage (secondary circuit) power wires as a result of accident or storm damage.

Voltage spikes may be longitudinal (common) mode or metallic (normal or differential) mode. Some equipment damage from surges and spikes can be prevented by use of surge protection

Surge protector

A surge protector is an appliance designed to protect Electricity from voltage spikes. A surge protector attempts to regulate the voltage supplied to an electric device by either blocking or by shorting to Ground voltages above a safe threshold....
equipment. Each type of spike requires selective use of protective equipment. For example a longitudinal mode voltage spike may not even be detected by a protector installed for normal mode transients.

Voltage spike

See also