LIGHTNING SURGE TEST GENERATOR FOR TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

Lightning surge which is induced on a telecommunication cable may dama ge telecommunication equipment. This paper proposes a design method fo r a lightning surge generator which can accurately predict reliability for the lightning surges in telecommunication equipment and the quali ty of the lightning surge generator developed based on this method is described. First, the characteristics of the lightning surge which is fed to the equipment are determined from such factors as the lightning surge inducing mechanism. Next, the testing surge waveform design met hod is determined in which evaluations of the lightning surge proof of equipment by the peak voltage, steepness (peak voltage/front time) an d energy of the lightning surge can be performed in one surge test. Th e testing surge waveform then is determined based on this design metho d. A method is described for realizing the lightning surge characteris tics and the testing surge waveform using a basic impulse voltage gene rator circuit which consists of an LRC circuit with few circuit elemen ts. Experimental results demonstrate that the developed lightning surg e generator based on the proposed designing method can predict the mal function rate accurately. It is shown also that it is highly practica l because its size and cost are about one-tenth that of a conventional testing device.