SESSION 4C

CRITERIA AND DESIGNS FOR

SURGE COUPLERS AND BACK-FILTERS
Peter Richman
KeyTek Instrument Corp.
260 Fordham Road
Wilmington, MA 01887

Abstract
Surge couplers and back-filters are necessary
for performing surge tests on electronic
equipment, in order to simulate the effects
of lightning and switching transients on both
power and data lines. Such couplers and
filters are poorly understood and inadequately standardized, yet their performance can
significantly affect the results of surge
tests on both components and equipment.
Nomenclature, design and performance of
optimum configurations are included,
following a recitation of common existing
pitfalls and misconceptions.
Introduction
ffenerators of short-duration pulses, termed
surges, have long been used to test the
capability of power transmission and
distribution equipment to withstand
high-voltage peaks. Such transients occur
due both to lightning events and to various
normal power system operations, including
switching and fault-clearing. The durations
of such transients are typically measured in
tens of microseconds, hence they are often
transformed, with only minor alterations,
down to the lower voltage levels used to
supply power within industrial and
residential locations. In addition,
transients due both to lightning and to
switching can be introduced directly into low
voltage circuits. Thus, virtually all
electrical and electronic equipment used on
conventional indoor power lines is subjected
to what can be surprisingly high, short-term
surge voltages and currents. Amplitudes of
such surges can reach levels of kilovolts and
kiloamperes at some locations.Cl1
In order to insure compatibility of
electronic equipment with this surge
environment, such equipment is subjected to
test surges, both on power and signal
input/output lines, during both design and
manufacture. The object of such testing is
to verify that equipment design for surge
immunity is successful, and that it i s
correctly implemented on a continuing basis
as products are shipped. All of this
activity results from a basic motivation to
ship computers, telecommunications equipment,
consumer electronics, industrial control
equipment and so on, that will be robust in
the face of such surges, so that these
products will be perceived as reliable in an
increasingly competitive marketplace.

of adequate agreement and standardization on

the means for coupling test surges to the EUT
(Equipment Under Test).
Intimately
associated with such coupling is simultaneous
back-filtering on the lines being surged.
Such back filtering has two purposes. The
first is to prevent test surges from reaching
other equipment that is not being tested, but
which is nonetheless being operated on the
same lines. The second is to provide an
impedance for the surge generator to drive,
that is both significantly higher than that
of the unfiltered line, and yet sufficiently
low to allow normal line current to flow,
without undue voltage drop, to the EUT.
Many surge coupling configurations are
independent of the back-filters with which
they are necessarily associated. However,
some back-filters can influence and even
dominate the effective surge coupling mode.
For this reason, surge couplers and backfilters are considered together, as surge
coupler/filters (or coupler/decouplers), so
that such issues are included in the study.
What follows covers the principal areas in
which surge coupling and filtering problems
exist. Rules are developed for specifying
and designing surge coupling configurations,
so that different surge test equipments can
yield the same test results on a given EUT.
Surge Coupling Modes
Nomenclature
The most controversial terms in surge testing
are those describing coupling modes, which
define the lines between or among which
surges are applied. Many such terms have
never been precisely defined for use in surge
testing, as they have been borrowed from
other disciplines, typically from telecommunications or measurement instrumentation
practice. In addition, some of these
meanings have changed over time, as electrical and electronic technologies have evolved.
Just beneath this issue of nomenclature lies
the ever-present need to select surge test
coupling modes which will best simulate the
surge environment in the equipment's
intended application. Ordinarily, all are
required for single-phase applications, while
a few of the many possibilities must be
selected in three-phase applications.[2]
In
any case, lack of precise nomenclature only
makes the selection task more difficult.

A recent standard, ANSI/IEEE C62.45-1987,

recognizes these difficulties by purposely

Surge testing is hampered, however, by lack

CH2736-718910000-0202$1 .OO U989 IEEE

202

describing surge test modes without reference

to terms like normal and common mode.[2]
It
will be shown that this is necessary but not
sufricient f o r describing realistic coupling
configurations f o r surge testing. In the
course of demonstrating this, the inadequate
yet commonly-used terms wIll continue to be
used in what follows, to facilitate
presentation. Once the matter has been fully
explored, however, and such terms have been
shown to be more confusing than useful, it
will be recommended that they be abandoned in
surge test applications.
Normal Mode Many familiar terms were simply
not defined with surge testing in mind;
"normal modeTris an example. Should two
non-grounded lines being surged in so-called
normal mode move equally in opposite
directions? If, instead, the entire surge
appears on just one of the lines, is the
surge in fact coupled in normal mode? Is it
normal mode when two phases are surged with
respect to a third in a three-phase system?
Whether o r not it is, what should be the
ratio of the surge voltage applied to the
single line, to that applied to the other
two? Is it always normal mode independent of
that ratio? What of two lines surged with
respect to neutral in a U.S. residential
power conf'iguration, o r three lines versus
neutral in three phase? Are these all normal
mode? There are many such issues. If all of
these examples are called normal mode, the
connotation becomes s o broad that the name
loses all utility in surge applications.
Another consideration is that different
hardware implementations have generated
constituencies partial to one o r another
interpretation. F o r example, shunt and
series surge injection give rise to different
interpretations of normal mode.[2]
For shunt
coupling, it might represent surging the high
line versus the low one; f o r series coupling,
it might represent surging the high one
versus the low one and ground,
simultaneously. (But this latter case would
really appear to be more like a common mode
coupling, in which the high line, alone, is
surged wlth respect to ground!)
In different fields, a variety of names may
be used f o r what is generally thought of as
normal mode. For instrumentation
applicatons it is often called "differential
modeT1,o r sometimes llline-to-linell.Neither
name would be readily extendable to
multi-line systems. In telecommunications
the comparable term Is "metallicl~,
a
reference, no doubt, to the time when ground
may in fact have been the earth, so that a
signal between two non-grounded lines
involved only metal conductors.
Internationally, normal mode is referred to
as ltsymmetric",a not-illogical name in
single-phase applications. In a three-phase
system, however, can a surge applied to two
lines versus a third really be considered
symmetric?
Common Mode Common mode is a term with
different historical meanings. As with
normal mode, each was defined for use in a
discipline remote from surge testing. One
meaning connotes any signal with respect to

SESSION 4C

ground, since ground was originally called

ftcommon11.[3] The other meaning is the more
presently-accepted one: a signal on two o r
more lines, in common, with respect to
ground. What, then, should be the name for
the mode in which only one line is surged
with respect to ground?

Common mode is termed "longitudinal model1 in

telecommunications. However, it is unlikely
that this name could be conveniently
broadened to be used in connection with
multi-phase power lines, o r with generalized,
multi-line data cables.
Internationally, a signal applied to
o r existing on both lines with respect to
ground in a single-phase system is called
asymmetric. A signal on just one line versus
ground is called unsymmetric. Putting aside
the ongoing confusion involved in using such
similar terms (there is often difficulty in
remembering which is which), it is unclear
which name, if either, applies f o r two lines
being surged versus ground in a three phase
system, o r one line plus neutral being surged
versus ground also in three phase, and so on.
Broadening the name llunsymmetrictf
to include
them all would render it, like the term
"normal model1, insufficiently specific to be
useful in surge work.
Coupling Circuits
Safety
In some circuits that follow, filter capacitors are shown connected between an active
power line and ground. These may supply too
a high level o f leakage current should the
ground connection become open. Note that a
ground fault interrupter (GFCI) will not
solve the problem. Solutions include use of
an isolation transformer with ground reestablished on its secondary, or a groundsense circuit within the coupler/filter.
Coupling Circuits
for Normal Mode
Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show three schematic representations selected from those that have at
one time o r another been presented in publications o r by manufacturers as normal mode
couplings. All three include back-filters,
for the reasons already discussed.
The test surge generator itself is assumed to
be ungrounded; thus it Is taken to be
"floating" with respect to ground, except for
stray capacitances to ground in the range of
hundreds o r , at most, a few thousand pF.
When a circuit under discussion uses a
grounded surge generator, the ground is added
external to the generator.
Fig. 1 would seem to be satisfactory f o r a
normal-mode coupling; one non-grounded line
appears to be symmetrically surged with
respect to the other. Thus the open-circuit
output surge will be balanced, i.e., without
the EUT the two lines move equally, in
opposite directions.
Fig. 2 also connects the surge generator
output from line to line, but since it
mistakenly tries to use a grounded rather

203

than an ungrounded surge generator

(designated in the figure by the ground
symboi on one surge generator output), it
also connects line i to ground through what
is presumably a large-value surge coupling
capacitor, CC1. In this conliguration, line
i therefore isn't surged at all, and
furthermore capacitor CCi restricts line 1's
ability to move freely should there be a
surge coupled to it via a protector o r
flashover within the EUT. For these reasons,
it is doubtful that measured EUT surge
immunity will always be the same using the
coupling method of Fig. 2, as it will for the
circuit of Fig. 1. Pig. 2 thus can't
possibly be considered to be a reasonable
implementation o f normal mode.
Fig. 3 shows a series surge injection
technique, using transformer T1 to couple the
surge to the high line. Thus, the surge is
applied to line 2 with respect to line 1 AND
ground, rather than between line 2 and line
i. .Just as with Fig. 2, Fig. 3 doesn't seem
to meet a reasonable definition of normal
mode, since only line 2 is surged, and line 1

Fig. i

SESSION 4C

is not. It is therefore unlikely that test

results will consistently be the same with
this coupling method as for that of Fig. 1.

After considering these three different

attempts at implementing normal mode surge
coupling, it appears that normal mode should
perhaps be defined as a coupling
configuration that applies a surge from one
line with respect to the other, with BOTH
lines surged o r moving during the surge, in
equal amounts in opposite directions, before
the EUT is connected. The international
designation, symmetric, would seem to imply
something of this sort. Expanding this
definition to multi-line situations such as
three-phase power lines, however, only leads
to new ambiguities.
Coupling Circuits
f o r Common Mode
There are various configurations that are
termed, by one o r another publication o r
manufacturer, to be applying the test surge
in common mode. Three typical common-mode

INPUT
LINE 2

Surge Generator Satisfactorily

Coupled to EUT in Normal Mode.
The surge is applied from line 2
to line 1, in a balanced way;
i.e., both lines move, equally and
in opposite directions, with
respect to ground.

SURGE
GENERATOR
INPUT
LINE 1

GROUND

LINE 2

SURGE
BACK-FILTER

'

I
I

==c3

Only one line is surged, i.e. line

2, since line 1 is effectively
grounded via coupling capacitor
Cci. Surge generators being used

I
l l
,
'L_ _ _ _ _ _ _ -1

r-------

Fig. 2
Surge Generator Improperly Coupled
to ElJT in tlNormalMode".

EUT

I
I

cc2

==

to surge active lines should be

ungrounded.

SURGE

Surge Generator Improperly Coupled

to EUT in "Normal Mode".
Actual coupling I s from line 2
to both line i and ground
simultaneously; only line 2 is
surged, as in Fig. 2. Thus series
coupling results in an unsymrnetric
surge, i.e. a single-line surge
versus common, o r ground.

INPUT
LINE 2

'
I

I
I

I
INPUT
LINE 1

T1

I
==c3

I
'

I
I c2-

==

I
I
1

I
I
cl

EUT

SESSION 4C
configurations are shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6.
All include surge/back-filters, and in all of
them the surge/generator is taken to be
ungrounded.
The circuit of Fig. 4 applies the surge
generator output, via surge coupling
capacitors CCi and CC2, simultaneously to
lines i and 2 respectively. It seems to meet
reasonable requirements f o r common mode
surging, i.e. it applies the same test surge
to all ungrounded lines, with respect to
ground. The circuit of Fig. 5 uses an
Isolation transformer, T1, to facilitate
coupling the surge generator output to both
EUT input lines at the same time. Thus, it
does appear to be what we expect to find f o r
a "common mode" coupling. Unfortunately,
with the circuit of Fig. 5 a flashover
between either line and ground within the EUT
won't allow what is called power follow, o r
ac line current flow through the flashover
path. Power follow capability is needed in
surge testing, in order accurately to
represent the electrical environment in which
the EUT will eventually be installed at the
user's slte.[2]
Thus Fig. 5, a surge
coupling method that disconnects line i
ohmically from ground and leaves it floating,
is clearly not a sufficiently realistic test
mode. It is also unlikely to give EUT surge
immunity test results always consistent with
those obtained using the circuit o f Fig. 4.
A variant of the circuit of Fig. 5, with a i
kilohm o r other relatively high-value
resistor connected from one side o f the
isolation transformer secondary to ground,
has been described in some draft specifications as providing "power follow-thru" (sic).
However power follow, the correct term, can
hardly be said to be available if power line
current following flashover to ground is
limited to 0.1-0.2 A via the 1K resistor.
The circuit o f Fig. 6 uses transformer
coupling to apply the surge via three-winding
transformer T1, to both input lines of the
EUT. It would therefore appear just as
satisfactory f o r common-mode coupling as the
circuit of Fig. 4. Unfortunately, it has
practical limitations: specifically, a
practical 1:l:i transformer required to
couple a typical, 1.2 x 5 0 us power-line test
surge with fidelity is simply unfeasible.
This fact does not prevent the circuit from
finding its way into some test standards.
There are two other, related coupling
configurations of great practical interest;
either can be obtained by disconnecting one
o f the two coupling capacitors, CCi o r CC2,
in the circuit of Fig. 4. The resulting
circuits surge either line 2 o r line i versus
ground, respectively. In the general case,
results of tests using either o f these two
circuits will clearly be different from those
of Fig. 4, although both apply test surges
with respect to ground, o r common (the old
definition). Interestingly, when only line 2
is surged via CC2, the resulting
configuration will be like the circuit of
Fig. 3 , nominally "normal modeTv,previously
discussed as having the property of surging
only line 2 and not involving line i.

only one line versus ground, are the coupling

modes that are internationally termed
unsymmetric. These are perfectly legitimate
test modes, and are in fact favored by many
as both quite realistic, and often difficult
f o r EUTs to pass, without upset o r damage.
However, they are clearly different from the
circuit of Fig. 4.
Coupling Circuits for HighImpedance Surge Generators
Relatively high line impedances are thought
to represent the situation in some European
installations when ground and neutral are
bonded outside, and far from, the point at
which power enters a building. It is not
clear that such remote ground bonding is
always the situation; bonding may occur near
o r even at the building in some cases, f o r
various reasons. These include proximity o f
the building to a power sub-station, unplanned local short circuits between neutral
and ground, and local flashover during a
surge, between neutral and ground. Any such
situation will make for a worst-case scenario
similar to the conventional one in the U.S.,
in which common mode and normal mode surge
source impedances are essentially the same.
The circuit of Fig. 7 is sometimes used to
provide a high back-filter impedance, to
avoid impose excessive load on a
high-impedance surge generator, up to perhaps
5 0 ohms, while at the same time allowing
essentially normal flow o f ac power line
current to the EUT. To do this, in addition
to the filter inductors Li and L2 familiar
from previous figures, Fig. 7 also uses a
transformer, T1. It provides a high mutual
inductance between windings, with one winding
in series with each of the two ac input lines
as shown. Typically, Ti is a i:i transformer
with equal primary and secondary inductances,
each on the order of tens o f mH. It offers
minimal impedance to the flow o f ac current
since its two windings are in opposition; but
it constitutes a high Impedance f o r surges
applied to both lines in common with respect
to ground.
Pour surge generators and associated
couplings to this filter are shown in Fig. 7,
each with dotted connections to the circuit
to indicate that only one is connected at a
time. SGi surges line 2 versus line 1, SG2
surges both lines with respect to ground, SG3
surges line 2 with respect to ground, and SG4
surges line i with respect to ground.
Ti presents SGi with a low, in fact
theoretically zero impedance, as it does to
the flow o f ac power current; s o that in
line-to-line surging it has no influence. Ti
does however present SG2 with a high
impedance, and therefore It facilitates
surging with high surge generator source
impedances in two-lines-to-ground coupling
modes. T1 presents SG3 and SG4 with a high
impedance as well; however, it effectively
subverts the attempt to surge one line to
ground, since it couples the surge to the
other line at the same time. Thus with the
back-filter o f Fig. 7, it is impossible
to surge one line at a time with respect to
ground. Attempts to improve this situation
by adding filter capacitances to ground from

Both coupling circuits obtained by omitting

one of the capacitors in Fig. 4 and surging

205

SESSION 4C
the junction of Ti and L1, and from the
junction of Ti and L2, are sometimes made in
order to try simultaneously to achieve a high
filter impedance to the surge, and freedom
from the unwanted coupling o f the surge from
one line to the other. A fully successful
compromise has eluded such attempts, and the
configuration remains useful only for surging
both lines simultaneously to ground from a
high impedance surge, no small advantage
nonetheless. However, it should be at least
as important to surge a single line versus
ground if the high impedance assumption is

valid, as it is to surge both of them

simultaneously. The circuit of Fig. 7 , when
applied to the problem of surging one line at
a time versus ground, is thus perhaps the
best example of a circuit in which one surge
mode is intended, but in which another
occurs, as a result of the design of the
back-filter.
Viable alternatives to Fig. 7 include
eliminating T1 and either using a 10-12 ohm
generator, o r compromising on a voltage wave
duration that is much shorter than 50 us.
I

I
I

1 1-'

Fig. 4
Surge Generator Satisfactorily
Coupled to EUT in Common Mode.

L.,

-I

I---------

INPUT
LINE 2

INPUT
LINE 1

The surge is applied from both

lines, equally, to ground.
I

GROUND

Fig. 5
Surge Generator Improperly Coupled
to GUT in Common Mode.
No power follow is available fol-

lowing flashover to ground in the

EUT. Thus this test is
unrealistic, since it fails to
replicate the situation in which
the EUT will eventually be used.
From this standpoint it almost
amounts to an unpowered surge
test.

Fig. 6
Surge Generator Satisfactorily
Coupled to EUT in Common Mode.

LINE 2

- --

I
I

==c3

I
I

rym

I
INPUT
LINE 1

l l

SURGE
GENERATOR

i-I

I
'

EUT

I
cz-== cl II
I
I
I
I

However, no practical i:i:l

transformer, T1, can be designed
for a i.2/50 voltage surge to 4-6
kV. The circuit nevertheless
finds its way into standards and
specifications.

Fig. 7
Surge Generator Satisfactorily
Coupled to ETJT in Normal Mode and
Common Mode. It Is Ineffectively
Coupled in Line 2-to-Ground and
Line i-to-Ground Modes.
In line 2-to-ground o r line i-toground, Ti's transformer action
provides the same surge to the
"unsurgedllline. Thus a surge to
one line automatically becomes a
surge to both. The back-filter,
in this situation, has become part
of the coupler.

EUT

I
I
I c2

II

C ,

II
GROUND

I
I

L_

z
SURGE
BACK-FILTER

II

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _J

206

eI

SESSION 46
Rules f o r Surge Coupling

A l l t h r e e p h a s e s and n e u t r a l ,

simultaneously, t o ground.
Most s u r g e c o u p l i n g c i r c u i t s i n c u r r e n t u s e
d o i n f a c t a p p l y t e s t s u r g e s t o a t l e a s t some
of t h e l i n e s t h e y a r e s u p p o s e d t o . However,
o n l y a few s u c h c o u p l i n g c i r c u i t s a p p l y
s i g n a l s t o a l l of t h e l i n e s t h e y s h o u l d ,
while l e a v i n g un-surged t h e l i n e s t h a t are
not intended t o be surged.
Some o f t h e
c o n f i g u r a t i o n s t h a t do apply s i g n a l s t o a l l
of t h e r i g h t l i n e s , n e v e r t h e l e s s r e d u c e t e s t
realism by r e s t r i c t i n g t h e f r e e d o m o f
u n - s u r g e d l i n e s t o move, i f c i r c u i t s o r
f l a s h o v e r w i t h i n t h e EUT c o n n e c t un-surged
l i n e s t o p o i n t s t h a t a r e surged.
Other
conf'igurations a p p l y s u r g e s t o t h e c o r r e c t
l i n e s , b u t o n l y by c h a n g i n g t h e normal i n p u t
grounding s i t u a t i o n , again reducing test
realism.
F i n a l l y , some of t h e methods c o r r e c t l y a l l o w a t l e a s t some r e a s o n a b l e l e v e l
o f power f o l l o w t o o c c u r when f l a s h o v e r t o
g r o u n d t a k e s p l a c e w i t h i n t h e GUT; o t h e r s
a g a i n l i m i t t e s t r e a l i s m by n o t d o i n g s o .
R e g a r d i n g c o u p l i n g mode n o m e n c l a t u r e , t h e
o n l y r e a s o n a b l e c o u r s e seems c l e a r : a v o i d
t e r m s l i k e n o r m a l mode, common mode,
s y m m e t r i c , u n s y m m e t r i c , a s y m m e t r i c , and s o
on.
I n a d d i t i o n , it is not s u f f i c i e n t t o
define t h e surge coupling configuration i n
terms o f t h e l i n e s b e i n g s u r g e d w i t h r e s p e c t
t o o n e o r more r e f e r e n c e l i n e s . A comDlete
.
~d e s c r i p t i o n of surge coupling requires'
d e f i n i t i o n o f t h e d i s p l a c e m e n t of e v e r y l i n e
i n t h e system w i t h r e s p e c t t o ground.
Anything s h o r t o f t h i s l e v e l o f r i n o r c a n
lead to-the p o s s i b i l i t y of different test
r e s u l t s w i t h d i f f e r e n t s u r g e test equipment.
Here a r e some e x a m p l e s :
S i n g l e phase, three-wire systems:
Line t o l i n e , balanced ( i . e . , with equal
and o p p o s i t e p o l a r i t y s u r g e s a p p l i e d t o
t h e two l i n e s w i t h r e s p e c t t o g r o u n d ) .
Both l i n e s t o ground.
High ( o r l i n e 2 ) t o g r o u n d .
Low ( o r l i n e i) t o g r o u n d .
Five-wire,

three-phase systems:

Xach o f t h e t h r e e p h a s e l i n e s , o n e a t a
time, t o e v e r y o t h e r p h a s e l i n e ; b a l a n c e d
( i . e . , w i t h e q u a l and o p p o s i t e s u r g e s
a p p l i e d t o t h e two l i n e s i n t h e s u r g e d
p a i r , with respect t o ground).
Each of t h e t h r e e p h a s e l i n e s , o n e a t a
time, t o n e u t r a l ; b a l a n c e d ( i . e . , w i t h
e q u a l a n d o p p o s i t e s u r g e s on l i n e a n d
n e u t r a l , with respect t o ground).
Two o f t h e t h r e e p h a s e l i n e s a t a time,
t o ground.
A l l t h r e e phase l i n e s , simultaneously, t o
n e u t r a l ; w i t h t h r e e times t h e s u r g e
v o l t a g e on n e u t r a l as on e a c h o f t h e
t h r e e phase l i n e s .
(Note: equal f i l t e r
i n d u c t a n c e s i n e a c h l i n e and n e u t r a l
imply t h i s v o l t a g e a p p o r t i o n m e n t . )

Each of t h e t h r e e p h a s e l i n e s a n d
n e u t r a l , o n e a t a time, t o g r o u n d .

The a b o v e e x e m p l a r y c o u p l i n g mode d e s c r i p t i o n s a r e c l e a r , p r e c i s e a n d unambiguous.

U s i n g them p e r m i t s a d v a n c i n g t o t h r e e d e s i g n
Their purpose i s
r u l e s f o r surge coupling.
t o provide reasonable c r i t e r i a f o r designing
and e v a l u a t i n g c o u p l i n g m e t h o d s f o r s u r g e
testing.
Rule i :

Surge t h e intended l i n e s ; d o n ' t

surge t h e others.

Rule 2:

Don't r e s t r i c t t h e freedom of l i n e s
t h a t a r e n ' t b e i n g s u r g e d , and d o n ' t
p r o v i d e freedom f o r l i n e s t h a t d o n ' t
o r d i n a r i l y h a v e i t . An a l t e r n a t e
formulation of t h i s r u l e is: don't
m a t e r l a l l y a l t e r t h e ohmic or
c a p a c i t i v e impedance t o g r o u n d o f
ETJT i n p u t o r o u t p u t , l i n e s .

R u l e 3:

A l l o w a t l e a s t some power f o l l o w , if
t h e r e i s f l a s h o v e r from any l.ine t o
g r o u n d w i t h i n t h e EUT.

Conclusions
S u r g e c o u p l i n g c o n f i g u r a t i o n s h a v e become
more i m p o r t a n t i n q u a l i f y i n g modern
e l e c t r o n i c e q u i p m e n t f o r s u r g e immunity.
However, t h e e x i s t i n g s t a t e o f n o m e n c l a t u r e
and c i r c u i t d e s i g n s f o r s u c h c o u p l i n g s and
t h e f i l t e r s they drive is q u i t e
u n s at i s f a c t o r y

I n regard t o nomenclature, it i s proposed

t h a t e a c h c o u p l i n g mode b e d e s c r i b e d i n terms
of t h e d i s p l a c e m e n t OP e v e r y l i n e i n t h e
system with r e s p e c t t o ground.
Regarding design, t h r e e c r i t e r i a are proposed
i n t h e f o r m of r u l e s , as t h e b a s i s f o r i m proved and b e t t e r - s t a n d a r d i z e d s u r g e c o u p l e r /
filters:
( i ) s u r g e t h e i n t e n d e d l i n e s and no
o t h e r s ; ( 2 ) d o n ' t m a t e r i a l l y change t h e
impedances d r i v i n g EUT i n p u t l i n e s ; and ( 3 )
a l l o w a t l e a s t some power f o l l o w .
The r e v i s e d n o m e n c l a t u r e a n d t h e t h r e e
suggested coupling r u l e s provide t o o l s f o r
design and a n a l y s i s o f s u r g e coupling
methods, w i t h t h e o v e r a l l purpose of
a c h i e v i n g b e t t e r - s p e c i f i e d a n d t h e r e f o r e more
reproducible surge testing.
Acknowledgments
G r e g o r y G . Senko f i r s t r e c o g n i z e d t h a t power
f o l l o w l i m i t a t i o n s c a n r e s u l t from i m p r o p e r
use of l i n e i s o l a t i o n transformers, l e a d i n g
t o t h e f o r m u l a t i o n o f R u l e 3.
References
[l] ANSI/IEEE C62.4i-1980 ( f o r m e r l y IEEE
S t d . 5 8 7 ) , I E E E Guide f o r S u r g e V o l t a g e s i n
Low-Voltage A C Power C i r c u i t s .

[2] ANSI/IEEE 052.45-1987, I E E E Guide on

S u r g e T e s t i n g f o r Equipment Connected t o
Low-Voltage AC Power C i r c u i t s .

C31 ANSI/IEEE S t d . 1 0 0 - i 9 8 4 , I E E E S t a n d a r d
D i c t i o n a r y o f E l e c t r i c a l and E l e c t r o n i c s
Terms.
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