Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Secondary breakdown is a failure mode in bipolar power transistors. In a power transistor with a large junction area, under certain conditions of current and voltage, the current concentrates in a small spot of the base-emitter junction. This causes local heating, progressing into a short between collector and emitter.
In an electric power system, a fault or fault current is any abnormal electric current. For example, a short circuit is a fault in which a live wire touches a neutral or ground wire. An open-circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by a failure of a current-carrying wire (phase or neutral) or a blown fuse or circuit breaker.
A short circuit fault current can, within milliseconds, be thousands of times larger than the normal operating current of the system. [2] Damage from short circuits can be reduced or prevented by employing fuses , circuit breakers , or other overload protection , which disconnect the power in reaction to excessive current.
A resistor removed from a high voltage tube circuit shows damage from voltaic arcing on the resistive metal oxide layer. Resistors can fail open or short, alongside their value changing under environmental conditions and outside performance limits. Examples of resistor failures include: Manufacturing defects causing intermittent problems.
The effect of too high short-circuit current is discussed in the previous section. The short-circuit current should be around 20 times the rating of the circuit to ensure the branch circuit protection clears a fault quickly. Quick disconnecting is needed, because during a line-to-ground short circuit the grounding pin potential on the power ...
Current limiting is the practice of imposing a limit on the current that may be delivered to a load to protect the circuit generating or transmitting the current from harmful effects due to a short-circuit or overload. The term "current limiting" is also used to define a type of overcurrent protective device.
A circuit protection device for overhead power distribution lines which briefly interrupts a circuit when a fault is detected, then restores the circuit in the expectation the fault has cleared. autotransformer A transformer where the primary and secondary circuits share some of the transformer windings. availability factor
In electronics, a latch-up is a type of short circuit which can occur in an integrated circuit (IC). More specifically, it is the inadvertent creation of a low-impedance path between the power supply rails of a MOSFET circuit, triggering a parasitic structure which disrupts proper functioning of the part, possibly even leading to its destruction due to overcurrent.