Interrupter device for surge arrester

An interrupter device comprising:

• an insulating housing that is elongated and that defines a cavity that includes a first housing end that is adjacent a surge arrester terminal and a second housing end that is opposite the first housing end;
• a fixed conductive component that is positioned within the cavity between the first housing end and the second housing end;
• a first terminal that is configured to establish an electrical connection to the surge arrester terminal;
• a second terminal that is configured to establish an electrical connection to an electrical power grid conductor and that is conductively coupled to the fixed conductive component in a first position and that is not conductively coupled to the fixed conductive component in a second position that is different from the first position;
• and
• a disconnection trigger that causes an interruption in an electrically conductive path between the first terminal and the second terminal in response to an overload condition at the second terminal, wherein the interruption is caused prior to a short circuit failure of the surge arrester,
• wherein the interrupter device is configured to interrupt and provide visible separation from the circuit while currents through the surge arrester to a ground connection are less than 1000 Amperes, wherein the visible separation includes a complete visible separation occurring external to a housing of the interrupter device,
• wherein the interrupter device is directly connected to each of the electrical power grid conductor and the surge arrester, and wherein the ground conductor is only directly connected to the surge arrester.

A device to provide overload protection, the device comprising:

• an interrupter device electrically connected to an electrical power grid line voltage conductor;
• a surge arrester including a first terminal that is configured to establish a first electrical connection to the interrupter device and a second terminal that is configured to establish a second electrical connection to an electrical power grid ground conductor;
• wherein the surge arrester provides voltage limiting impedance,
• wherein the interrupter device uses non-linear impedance to cause an interruption of an impeded fault and provide visible separation of a surge arrester circuit, wherein the interruption is caused prior to a short circuit failure of the surge arrester, and
• wherein the electrical power grid ground conductor and/or the electrical power grid line voltage conductor are visibly detached from the interrupter device, wherein the visible separation includes a complete visible separation occurring external to a housing of the interrupter device, and wherein the interrupter device is directly connected to each of the electrical power grid conductor and the surge arrester, and wherein the electrical power grid ground conductor is only directly connected to the surge arrester.