ABB QuickSafe Surge Protection Device

ABB has launched the QuickSafe Surge Protection Device (SPD), which combines the company’s thermal disconnection technology with its integrated safety backup system. This ensures electrical equipment, including mission-critical installations for data centres, hospitals and banks, is continuously protected from damage, often caused by surges in the power supply.

SPDs are used in many industrial applications to protect electrical equipment from transitory surges caused by operations on the grid or lightning. Powerful surges can melt solid-state circuits and components, while even small surges, repeated many times over, can cause damage and lead to the loss of important stored data. The life span of a SPD varies according to the size and frequency of the surges it encounters, which makes the timing of its replacement unpredictable.

The product offers a safety backup with an indicator that shows when the component needs replacing, enabling maintenance personnel to identify and safely replace the damaged component, while the second component continues to protect equipment. With this reserve system the risk of a device being left unprotected is eliminated, allowing operators to plan necessary SPD replacements at convenient times with little or no disruption to operations and services. It features two electronic components per device compared to the standard of only one per device.