Surge protector
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsLarry E. Bock, John B. Cozzens, Jr.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surge suppressor and method for its manufacture. The surge suppressor includes a housing, a plurality of terminal busses contained within the housing, and a plurality of substantially planar conductive plates, each plate having two electrodes for electrical connection to two of the plurality of terminal busses. In one embodiment, by using five terminal busses pentagonally arranged around the plates, the surge protector requires only two types of plate/electrode configurations, thereby simplifying manufacture.
Claims32
An apparatus for suppressing surges in a power distribution system, comprising:
- a housing;
- a plurality of terminal busses contained within the housing;
- and
- a plurality of substantially planar conductive plates, each plate having two electrodes for electrical connection to two of the plurality of terminal busses, wherein said plurality of substantially planar conductive plates includes a first number of substantially planar conductive plates and a remaining number of substantially planar conductive plates,
- wherein said first number of substantially planar conductive plates have a first electrode configuration, where a first angle is defined by the two electrodes and a center of the plate, and wherein said remaining number of substantially planar conductive plates have a second electrode configuration, where a second angle is defined by the two electrodes and the center of the plate.
A method for assembling a surge protection device, comprising the steps of:
- physically aligning a plurality of electrically conductive plates including a first number of substantially planar conductive plates and a remaining number of substantially planar conductive plates, wherein said first number of substantially planar conductive plates has a first electrode configuration, where a first angle is defined by the two electrodes and a center of the plate, and wherein said remaining number of substantially planar conductive plates has a second electrode configuration, where a second angle is defined by the two electrodes and the center of the plate, with a plurality of terminal busses such that the electrodes are in predetermined alignment positions with respect to two of the terminal busses;
- soldering the electrodes to the corresponding terminal busses while maintaining the physical alignment of the plates and the terminal busses;
- placing the soldered assembly into a housing;
- and
- substantially filling the housing with an insulating potting material.
An apparatus for suppressing surges in a power distribution system, comprising:
- a housing;
- a plurality of slotted terminal busses contained within the housing, wherein each of said slotted terminal busses includes at least two slots;
- and
- a plurality of substantially planar conductive plates, each plate having two electrodes for electrical connection to two of the plurality of terminal busses through the slots.
A method for assembling a surge protection device, comprising the steps of:
- physically aligning a plurality of electrically conductive plates with a plurality of slotted terminal busses such that the electrodes are in predetermined alignment positions with respect to two of the terminal busses;
- soldering the electrodes to the corresponding slotted terminal busses while maintaining the physical alignment of the plates and the terminal busses;
- placing the soldered assembly into a housing;
- and
- substantially filling the housing with an insulating potting material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.