ERICO TSG Series Surge Reduction Filters (TSG-RSF) - Manual (Page 4)

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Introduction
1. INTRODUCTION
The CRITEC ® Triggered Spark Gap Surge
Reduction Filter (TSG-SRF) from ERICO ® incorpo-
rates high energy clamping devices and special
filtering circuitry. TSG-SRFs are installed in series
with the circuit, usually at the point of entry to
the building or structure. They are available in
single or three-phase configurations for load
currents from 40A to 2000A per phase.
The purpose of a TSG-SRF is to filter and
protect against lightning induced transients.
The SRF provides a clean, filtered supply of
electricity to all output connected equipment
when installed in accordance with the
manufacturer’s instructions.
Protection is achieved via a three-stage circuit.
This includes the internal CRITEC Triggered
Spark Gap unit as the primary surge diverter,
a purpose designed low pass filter network
and a secondary, Transient Discriminating (TD)
diversion stage to further clamp the transient
energy to safe levels. This allows the TSG-SRF
to:
• Provide filtering to the clamped waveform
in order to reduce the rate of voltage rise.
• Provide a secondary stage of surge diver-
sion to protect equipment from transients
which may be induced onto the SRF out
put cables or be caused by the load itself.
The use of this combination of technologies
has resulted from considerable advances in
technology which have negated previous
disadvantages associated with spark gaps.
The use of spark gaps has not been practical
in the past due to the high initiation voltages
required to activate such devices and also
their poor follow-current performance.
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