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AC Power filter and phone line filter (homemade circuit breaker)

By Ionela Created Oct 11 2008 - 21:54

By Ionela Oct 11th, 2008 Hardware [1] ac filter [2] circuit breaker [3] circuit protection [4] diy [5] emi filter [6] phone filter [7] power filter [8]

AC-Safe can protect or filter the phone line and protect or filter the ac power supply (mains), from lightnings (or surges) and extra currents. Toss in a few modifications, and also noise coming from power lines can be easily filtered. A classic example is noise on the TV, when an hair dryer is being used . Well, I field tested Ac-safe and, interposing it between the TV and the dryer, the disturbs on the TV were removed! Moreover I have tested it in a CE laboratory, using Schaffner instrumentation, against unexpected overloads (surges) (EN61000-4-5 tested with impulses up to 2.2KV) and the behavior has been excellent! Documentation regarding protections circuits for phones lines or data networks, is huge. This is because noise characteristics are not known "a priori", so we work with presumed models of noise. So while designing a PCB I take in consideration many different possible noise sources. Schematic

The schematic MUST be used only as a reference, and can be used as a starting point for several experiments:

Item Qty Ref Part Note ____________________________________________________________________ PHONE LINE protected from over current and/or over voltage. 1 1 EF1 EMI FILTER PCB DELTA 06-MKA230V ELECTRICAL LINE EMI protection and/or extra tensions protection. FILTRO 2 1 GT1 GAS_TUBE3 T23-A350X(EPCOS) NO radioactive So, components to be assembled on board depend from the experiment you want to run 3 2 JP1,JP2 HEADER 3 MT_2103 Download the complete PDF documentation --->> download [9] 4 3 RV1,RV2,RV3 V250LA V250LA20 5 1 TR1 1.5KE440CA 1.5KE440CA Buy the file GERBER to build the Printed Circuit (PCB) --->> ac-safe_gerberAC_SAFE [10] 6 1 PCB EMC001 Components list AC Protection AC_SAFE Revision: 0 Bill Of Materials

Considerations on the Part List: This component list is valid for a 230Vac power line protection from overvoltage (by means of the Varistors), lightninigs (thanks to the gas discharger and the transil), and for a network filter (that's the purpose of the DELTA Filter). Here are the possible solutions/experimentations

NETWORK PROTECTION: Item Qty Ref Part Note ____________________________________________________________________ 1 1 EF1 EMI FILTER PCB DELTA 06-MKAFILTRO 2 1 GT1 DO NOT mount 3 2 JP1,JP2 HEADER 3 MT_2103 4 3 RV1,RV2,RV3 V250LA V250LA20 (DO NOT CONNECT RV1 and EARTH, but on a GAS DISCHA connects to EARTH) 5 1 TR1 1.5KE440CA 1.5KE440CA 6 1 PCB EMC001 AC_SAFE PHONE LINE PROTECTION: Item Qty Ref Part ____________________________________________________________________ 1 1 EF1 SHORT AS FROM THE SCHEMATIC, OR USE THE PTC 2 1 GT1 GAS DISCHARGER 3 PIN 3 2 JP1,JP2 HEADER 3 MT_2103 4 3 RV1,RV2,RV3 V250LA V250LA20

Note

51TR1 1.5KE440CA 1.5KE440CA 61PCBEMC001 AC_SAFE Printed circuit PCB Component side (TOP)

Solder Side(BOT) Please note the EARTH layer and the use of sharp points used to "discharge" further extra tensions.

Side Component Serigraphy (SST)

Download the project PDF documentation --->> download [9] Buy the file GERBER to build the Printed Circuit (PCB) --->> ac-safe_gerber [10] Realize a board protection

With AC-Safe it is possible to implement 3 different models >Parallel >Series >EMI PARALLEL PROTECTIONS This circuit typology usually protects the device from over voltage, and its working parameters are conditioned by the current flow, usually limited by a series protection or more banally a fuse placed upstream. The parallel protections can be divided in two subcategories, Primary and Secondary Primary protections are the very first dam against spikes, thus absorbing a great amount of energy, but usually powerful doesn't mean fast. This means that the first part (and we are talking about microseconds ) of the disturb is not properly filtered reaching thousands of volts. That's where secondary protections come handy.

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This Application Note from ST (AN579 [12]) describes very well the concept of primary and secondary protection. The following picture shows the REAL answer of one primary protection:

As you can see, in the first 80uS the trace exceeds the 230V threshold, thus making necessary a secondary protection for sensitive circuits.

Primary protection The primary protections can be realized in several ways, sharp points on the printed circuit that discharge to earth, GAS discharger and Varistor. Their main purpose is to reduce as much as possible the spike and their restore time is essential to filter the harmful event. Points on the PCB: When designing a printed circuit board, it is very important to provide means to physically discharge the spike energy thus avoiding an excess of energy that would make other protections explode. Parameters of a electricity discharge in air on a circuit without solder protection and at an altitude lower than 3000 m, must be kept in mind to design this PCB - Spark Gap. The following formula can be applied V=(3000pd+1350) where p=1 (atmospheric pressure) and d = distance in millimeters keeping in mind the following norms IPC [13] about isolation (minimal isolation of 2.5mm @500V), and vias designed with sharp poinys to discharge energy. GAS discharger: These components become active when voltage raises over a certain threshold, discharging spike energy to earth. Though bipolar devices are available (working on two phases), using tripolar ones guarantees the same threshold voltage. When igniting the gas discharger emits light. More recent devices are compliant to more restrictive norms that bans use of radioactive materials from gas dischargers, making them safer. Their best use is in protections using (series) varistors as well as clearly explained by this "Surge Arrester [14]" EPCOS Application Note

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By providing an upstream protection with a series Varistor, we avoid the G.D. self destruction caused by the overcurrent flowing in the protected circuit. The Varistor: Varistors (aka MOV) principle of operation is quite simple. When voltage exceeds their nominal threshold value, they divert energy from the protected circuit shorting to ground, acting as a "shunt [16]", thus forcing an upstream fuse to blow. They are enough fast and powerful to act as a fundamental primary protection. The following Littlefuse-Harris [17] Application Note shows protections examples using MOVs, providing selection criteria to select the proper device given a threshold voltage and power.

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Finally, note how the Varistor can be both a valid parallel protection and a series device to be coupled to the GAS discharger. It is with no doubt a keystone for circuit protection. Secondary protection This kind of protection acts at the very beginning of the spike (nS), clipping the over voltage to the maximum allowed voltage for the circuit under protection. Fast enough devices for this purpose are : Transil (TVS), Trisil, Zener. Transil (TVS): Transil is a transient suppressor available in both unidirectional and bidirectional versions. It clips voltage when it exceeds its nominal threshold, dissipating energy in excess. Its behaviour is similar to the zener diode but transil is much faster and stronger, specifically designed to protect from over voltages. Bidirectional ones are usually used as protection on a transformer secondary, or on a telephone line (take a look at SINCLAIR [21]) or as secondary protections in power lines. They are used in unidirectional version for transmission devices or lines protection. Following we show a practical case occurred when designing a remote controlled board using a relay to switch on/off a neon lamp: PROBLEM : When the lamp is switched on it creates noise on the power line. This noise enters the Transformerless power supply (a directly connected to the power line series resistor, capacitor and regulating zener )causing the onboard microcontroller to reset. SOLUTION : Using a monodirectional 5V transil, placed very near the Vcc Microcontroller pin solved the problem. (reset had been previously connected internally to Vcc via software) Trisil: Trisil can be considered the Gas Discharger younger brother, with similar behaviour (with the due physical differences).

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Interesting ST Application Note (AN574 [23]) on the differences between Transil and Trisil

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This ST Application Note (AN1826 [25]) can be also very useful on the differences between Transil and Varistor. Probably in most of the cases it will be convenient to use, in combination, all the presented devices. SERIES PROTECTIONS Series protections protect circuits from over currents, when the nominal max allowed current is exceeded. Fuses, power resistors, Circuit Breaker and PTC thermistors(Positive Temperature Coefficient [26]) are used as series protections. Usually consumer devices protections do not use fuse being irreparable. leaving to upstream devices such as thermal switches this duty. On the other hand applications for avionics, expressly demand a non restorable fuse. In these cases the fuse is replaced by a power resistor, to limit current. PTC: These devices vary their resistance according to the temperature, the greater it is the current that flows, the greater will be the temperature and therefor greater will be the resistance, protecting the

downstream device. They are frequently used in protections, both for power and phone lines, because they are restorable (even if slowly). EPCOS [27] e VISHAY [28] are without a doubt the most important producers of PTC

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EMI Protections They protect the devices from frequencies due to power line noise.They are particularly necessary (for norms compliance) in DIMMERS, in SWITCHING power supplies, etc, all considered potential noise source for the power lines. Moreover they can also be used for protecting a device from potential incoming disturbs. They can be self made using resistors and capacitors and particular coils (generally in the locals power supply these are made for having the possibility to design a specific filter and to intervene in the phase of certification) or they can be already found out of the shelf. The connection of various parts, in the different levels of protection, will protect your circuit from a several kind of disturbs. LINKS to download Application Note, Data Sheet and Risources ST [31] Transil producer, Trisil and interesting Application Note ARCOTRONICS [32] Net filters and specify anti-disturbance capacitors LITTELFUSE (HARRIS) [33] Varistors producer, GAS discharger, Circuit breaker and interesting Application Note EPCOS [27] Varistori producer, PTC, GAS discharger and interesting Application Note ONSEMI (MOTOROLA) [34] Transil (TVS) producer and Circuits Protection EMI-RFI-ESD-Telecom SCHAFFNER [35] Net filters and bobbin of suppression disturbs authoritative producer VISHAY [28] Varistors producer, PTC, Transil and interesting Application Note Download the PDF project documentation --->> download [9] Buy the file GERBER to build the Printed Circuit (PCB) --->> ac-safe_gerber [10] Hardware ac filter circuit breaker circuit protection diy emi filter phone filter power filter
Source URL: http://dev.emcelettronica.com/ac-power-filter-and-phone-line-filter-homemade-circuit-breaker

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