What is a TVS diode used for?
What is a TVS diode used for?
TVS Diodes are used to protect semiconductor components from high-voltage transients. Their p-n junctions have a larger cross-sectional area than those of a normal diode, allowing them to conduct large currents to ground without sustaining damage.
What is a transient voltage suppressor used for?
What is a Transient Voltage Suppressor (TVS) diode? A transient voltage suppressor (TVS) is an avalanche diode specially designed to clamp overvoltages and dissipate high transient power surges. ST’s Transil™ protection devices are able to shunt a high current surge for a short duration.
Which diode is also known as transient suppressor?
Zener diode
One such common device used for this purpose is known as the transient voltage suppression diode, a Zener diode designed to protect electronics device against overvoltages.
What can cause transient voltage?
Transient voltages are caused by the sudden release of stored energy due to incidents such as lightning strikes, unfiltered electrical equipment, contact bounce, arcing, capacitor bank or generators being switched ON and OFF. Transient voltages differ from swells by being larger in magnitude and shorter in duration.
What causes a TVS diode to fail?
By nature, a TVS device will fail when subjected to a transient beyond its designed capability. If the circuit or system is not properly fused, a shorted TVS device can become a safety hazard conducting operating currents through the return path.
Are TVS diodes bidirectional?
TVS diodes are inherently unidirectional. A bidirectional device can be created by combining two unidirectional diodes, as shown in Figure 5. The electrical characteristics of a common cathode and common anode device are typically equivalent.
How transients can be generated?
The vast majority of transients are produced within your own facility. The main culprits are device switching, static discharge, and arcing. Each time you turn on, turn off, load, or unload an inductive device, you produce a transient.
What is the difference between Zener and TVS diode?
2-6(b), a Zener diode clamps input voltage to a constant voltage and supplies clamped voltage to other semiconductor devices. Thus, a TVS diode absorbs surge voltage to protect other semiconductor devices, whereas a Zener diode provides constant voltage to other semiconductor devices.
Is a TVS diode a Zener diode?
One common misconception is that TVS diodes and Zener diodes are the same thing, and I often hear TVS diodes referred to as “Zeners”. TVS diodes and Zener diodes are engineered for very different applications. Zener diodes are designed to regulate voltage and therefore operate in the breakdown region (Figure 2).
What is transient voltage?
A transient voltage is a temporary unwanted voltage in an electrical circuit that range from a few volts to several thousand volts and last micro seconds up to a few milliseconds.
What is a electrical transient?
Transient surges are defined as momentary bursts of energy that are induced upon power, data, or communication lines. They are characterized by extremely high voltages that can drive tremendous amounts of current into an electrical circuit for a few millionths, up to a few thousandths of a second.
Can I remove TVS diode?
HDDs that have been subjected to a sustained overvoltage will have a shorted TVS diode on the affected input. If the diode has succeeded in containing the damage, then the drive’s function will be restored after removing the diode (just snip it with flush cutters or perhaps fingernail clippers).