1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic pulse protection circuit capable of suppressing fast speed and low speed overvoltage spikes caused by electromagnetic pulses (EMP), and in particular to an electromagnetic pulse protection circuit having wave filtering capability.
2. The Prior Arts
In general, since the instantaneous rising speed of high voltage and large current signals are exceedingly fast, so that presently, the so-called lightning protection facilities are disposed in front of electronic communication devices, that belong to a kind of slow response lighting surge protection element (LS protection element), and usually are each composed of a spark-gap-switch or elements made of zinc-oxide. The major characteristic of LS protection element is that, in operation, its response time is rather slow, so that usually when its surge suppression function starts to work, the spike voltage has already been exceedingly high. As such, it does not provide timely and sufficient protection against fast rising voltage pulses.
Though, behind an ordinary IC circuit, a fast Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) protection device (ESD protection element, such as TVS, DIAC, or MOV, etc.) is provided for protection, and the response of this fast speed response protection element is rather fast, and it withstands a voltage of up to 8000V, however, it is not a very good current enduring element. In particular, the width of a pulse generated by lightning or man-made electromagnetic pulse bomb is rather wide, such that, long period of overvoltage will produce an excessive current effect in generating excessive heat. As such, the heat thus generated will first burn out an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device (fast response protection element), and then it will burn out the internal structure of semiconductor. Therefore, this kind of fast response protection element is only capable of withstanding electrostatic discharge, and it is not able to withstand various EMP attacks of high energies.
In general, communication equipments are provided with lightning protection device (namely, LS protection element), thus behind an IC circuit an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device (ESD protection element) is disposed for protection. However, even if an LS protection element and a fast response protection element are connected in parallel, yet this kind of arrangement is not effectively solve the problem mentioned above. Therefore, current will first flow to a fast response protection element of fast conduction, since current endurance capability of the fast response protection element is very much limited, thus it will be burned out quickly, thus the voltage will rise again. So the chances are, the IC circuit device disposed behind this arrangement has already been burned out before the LS protection element is activated to function. In addition, since a fast response protection element is a kind of capacitative element, the application of it will incur insertion loss to signals input to a communication equipment, hereby adversely affecting communication distance of the signals.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the inventor of the present invention proposes a method of solution as disclosed in Patent Publication Number 588888 of Taiwan, ROC. Referring to
However, in order to achieve better protection against electromagnetic pulses, in the previous cases of prior art mentioned above, the impedance characteristics of impedance elements are utilized, yet the requirements of effectively suppressing electromagnetic pulses of various frequencies have not been fully met, thus it still has much room for improvements.
Due to the problems and drawbacks of the prior art, a major objective of the present invention is to provide an electromagnetic pulse protection circuit having wave filtering capability, that is used to effectively suppress electromagnetic pulses of a specific frequency by utilizing an impedance incurring frequency provided by a filter on signal transmission routes, thus raising the electromagnetic-pulse-resistive capability of electronic elements and system reliability.
The electromagnetic pulse protection circuit having wave filtering capability of the present invention is realized by an inductor free LS protection circuit and an inductor free fast response protection circuit as linked and combined by a filter. In the above-mentioned structure, the fast response protection circuit is realized by inductor free series-connecting ESD elements, so as to reduce the insertion loss, or it is made by series-connecting inductive compensation elements, so that ESD elements is ignored or neglected at higher frequency, hereby forming a high-pass circuit. Or, alternatively, the electromagnetic pulses protection circuit of the present invention further is series-connected a capacitative-impedance element, and that is essentially a voltage dependent capacitor, and its capacitance is varied depending on magnitude of an input voltage. In normal operations, the capacitance of a voltage dependent capacitor is high, while its impedance is low; yet, when strong overvoltage electromagnetic pulses occur, the capacitance of the variable capacitor is low, while the impedance will increase, as such pulse signals do not pass through the voltage dependent capacitor, therefore, it is capable of preventing spikes from damaging electronic elements.
Moreover, in the present invention, high-temperature-super-conduction (HTSC) characteristics are utilized in designing electromagnetic pulse protection circuits, such that filter is made of HTSC materials. The essence of the design principle utilized is that, when a device made of HTSC material is subject to a sudden infusion of electromagnetic pulses, a current surpassing critical current (Jc) will pass through the HTSC material, and instantaneously, the HTSC material will be converted from a super-conduction (SC) state into a normal (NM) state, such that its electrical resistance will increase instantaneously to a very high value, as such restricting the current passing through the HTSC material. In addition, in the present invention, other protection elements are used to form bypassing circuits, with their impedances much lower than those of normal (NM) state, thus they are used to bypass huge amount of pulse current. Therefore, when electromagnetic pulses disappear, then the HTSC material will return to its super-conduction (SC) state, and then the system will resume its normal operations. In general, the time of conversion from a SC state to an NM state is less than a few micro seconds, or it reaches nano second range. Therefore, HTSC materials have a very good prospect of being utilized in producing fast electromagnetic pulse (EMP) protection circuit operating in nano-second range. The application of HTSC material (with its critical temperature higher than the liquid helium critical temperature of 77 K) may simplify the requirements of cooling the system, so as to make it possible and feasible to utilize HTSC materials in the protection against electromagnetic pulses.
Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The related drawings in connection with the detailed description of the present invention to be made later are described briefly as follows, in which:
The purpose, construction, features, functions and advantages of the present invention is appreciated and understood more thoroughly through the following detailed description with reference to the attached drawings.
Firstly, referring to
In the above-mentioned structure, the filter 12 utilized is a kind of band-pass filter, and that is used to block the passage of or effectively suppress the electromagnetic signals received for some specific frequencies. Referring to
More specifically, the kind of filter mentioned above is made of HTSC material. Such an HTSC material, due to its ceramic property, is especially suitable for making thin films, and that is precisely fit for producing micro strip lines used in high frequency transmission. The micro strip line structure is formed as a thin film micro-strip line of adequate width on an insulated substrate having its back side studded with conductive films, such that it is produced through utilizing an ordinary photolithographic process, and is in compatible with a semiconductor manufacturing process. In case that HTSC thin film is made into microstrip line, such that it is integrated into and function efficiently in cooperation with an electromagnetic micro wave circuit of an antenna system, then the endurance/resistance of the system against the electromagnetic pulses is significantly raised.
Therefore, high-temperature-super-conduction (HTSC) characteristic is utilized in designing and producing electromagnetic pulse protection element for use in high speed microwave frequency section. The main reason that the HTSC material is utilized in design for suppressing spikes is that: when a device made of HTSC material is suddenly subject to infusion of electromagnetic spikes, a current surpassing critical current (Jc) will pass through the HTSC material, and then instantaneously, the HTSC material will be transformed from a super-conduction (SC) state into a normal (NM) state, and this process is called a Quench Process. In situation like this, the instantaneous increase of electrical resistance will greatly attenuate the signals passing through in good number of decibels, hereby effectively restricting the current passing through the HTSC material of the device. The transition from a Sc state to an NM state is measured in less than a few micro seconds, or it even reaches nano second range. As such, the HTSC material is utilized to protect circuits in suppressing fast electromagnetic pulses in a nano-second range.
In addition, in the present embodiment, a counter circuit 50 is placed in a sensing position near LS protection element 11. The counter circuit 50 includes a sensor 51 and a counter 52. The sensor 51 just mentioned is a photo sensor or a magnetic sensor, and that is used to sense and measure the variations of light emitted or magnetic force generated by the LS protection element 11, and then output counting signals. Subsequently, counter 52 will receive the counting signals in calculating and obtaining the action number of LS protection element 11. In this manner, counter 52 is used to inform operator of the device in advance whether LS protection element 11 has reached its service duration and needs to replace its related elements through the data or text displayed or the sound generated by the counter.
Subsequently, referring to
Finally, referring to
The above detailed description of the preferred embodiment is intended to describe more clearly the characteristics and spirit of the present invention. However, the preferred embodiments disclosed above are not intended to be any restrictions to the scope of the present invention. Conversely, its purpose is to include the various changes and equivalent arrangements which are within the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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97110125 A | Mar 2008 | TW | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20090310273 A1 | Dec 2009 | US |