electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, spikes are fast, short duration electrical

transient Transience or transient may refer to: Music * ''Transient'' (album), a 2004 album by Gaelle * ''Transience'' (Steven Wilson album), 2015 * Transience (Wreckless Eric album) Science and engineering * Transient state, when a process variable or ...

s in voltage (voltage spikes), current (current spikes), or transferred energy (energy spikes) in an electrical circuit. Fast, short duration electrical transients (

overvoltage In electrical engineering, overvoltage is the raising of voltage beyond the design limit of a circuit or circuit element. The conditions may be hazardous. Depending on its duration, the overvoltage event can be transient—a voltage spike—o ...

s) in the

electric potential Electric potential (also called the ''electric field potential'', potential drop, the electrostatic potential) is defined as electric potential energy per unit of electric charge. More precisely, electric potential is the amount of work (physic ...

of a circuit are typically caused by *

Lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

strikes *

Power outage A power outage, also called a blackout, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, a power cut, or a power out is the complete loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user. There are many causes of power failures in an el ...

s * Tripped

circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an electrical safety device designed to protect an Electrical network, electrical circuit from damage caused by current in excess of that which the equipment can safely carry (overcurrent). Its basic function is to interr ...

s *

Short circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...

s * Power transitions in other large equipment on the same power line * Malfunctions caused by the power company *

Electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also referred to as a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. The origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic field, as an ...

s (EMP) with

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

energy distributed typically up to the 100 kHz and 1 MHz frequency range. * Inductive spikes In the design of critical infrastructure and military hardware, one concern is of pulses produced by

nuclear explosion A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, th ...

s, whose nuclear electromagnetic pulses distribute large energies in frequencies from 1 kHz into the

gigahertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base un ...

range through the atmosphere. The effect of a voltage spike is to produce a corresponding increase in

current Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (hydr ...

(current spike). However some voltage spikes may be created by current sources. Voltage would increase as necessary so that a constant current will flow. Current from a discharging

inductor An inductor, also called a coil, choke, or reactor, is a Passivity (engineering), passive two-terminal electronic component, electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when an electric current flows through it. An inductor typic ...

is one example. For sensitive

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

, excessive current can flow if this voltage spike exceeds a material's breakdown voltage, or if it causes

avalanche breakdown Avalanche breakdown (or the avalanche effect) is a phenomenon that can occur in both insulating and semiconducting materials. It is a form of electric current multiplication that can allow very large currents within materials which are otherwis ...

. In

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

junctions, excessive electric current may destroy or severely weaken that device. An

avalanche diode In electronics, an avalanche diode is a diode (made from silicon or other semiconductor) that is designed to experience avalanche breakdown at a specified reverse bias voltage. The junction of an avalanche diode is designed to prevent current co ...

transient voltage suppression diode A transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diode, also transil, transorb or thyrector, is an electronic component used to protect electronics from voltage spikes induced on connected wires. Description The device operates by shunting excess current ...

varistor A varistor (a.k.a. voltage-dependent resistor (VDR)) is a surge protecting electronic component with an electrical resistance that varies with the applied voltage. It has a nonlinear, non- ohmic current–voltage characteristic that is similar ...

, overvoltage

crowbar A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially gooseneck, or pig bar, or in Australia a jemmy, is a lever consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flat ...

, or a range of other

protective devices can divert ( shunt) this transient current thereby minimizing voltage. Voltage spikes, also known as surges, may be created by a rapid buildup or decay of a magnetic field, which may

induce Induce may refer to: * Induced consumption * Induced innovation * Induced character * Induced coma * Induced menopause * Induced metric * Induced path * Induced topology * Induce (musician), American musician * Labor induction Labor indu ...

energy into the associated circuit. However voltage spikes can also have more mundane causes such as a fault in a

transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...

or higher-voltage (primary circuit) power wires falling onto lower-voltage (secondary circuit) power wires as a result of accident or storm damage. Voltage spikes may be longitudinal (common) mode or metallic (normal or differential) mode. Some equipment damage from surges and spikes can be prevented by use of surge protection equipment. Each type of spike requires selective use of protective equipment. For example, a common mode voltage spike may not even be detected by a protector installed for normal mode transients. Power increases or decreases which last multiple cycles are called swells or sags, respectively. An uninterrupted voltage increase that lasts more than a minute is called an overvoltage. These are usually caused by malfunctions of the

electric power distribution Electric power distribution is the final stage in the Power delivery, delivery of electricity. Electricity is carried from the Electric power transmission, transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution Electrical substation, substatio ...

system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voltage Spike Power electronics

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

pl:Przepięcie

See also

References