Robustness
Overvoltage is a physical phenomenon that occurs and propagates in electrical systems from time to time for various reasons. The most common causes of surges can be divided into:
- atmospheric surges during storms
- surges caused by static electricity discharges
- transients arising from switching on and off
- transients during fault conditions
Due to the damage that surges can cause to electronic equipment, it is necessary to prevent them, especially in outdoor and industrial installations, by using surge protectors. For this reason, the ports of the devices we develop and manufacture are protected against surges as standard and the level of protection corresponds to the intended deployment of the device:
- Fast Ethernet port for outdoor applications: 1000A in 8/20 µs waveform
- Fast ethernet ports for indoor applications: 30A in 8/20 µs waveform
- Gigabit Ethernet ports: 30A in 8/20 µs wave
- 10-60VDC power inputs: 30-100A in 8/20 µs wave
We use standards to test the immunity of our devices:
EN 61000-4-5
- which is suitable for testing the immunity of devices to low-energy pulses, at the level of weak electromagnetic interference.
EN61643-11
- which is standardly used for testing surge protectors, i.e. testing resistance to high-energy pulses, and thus simulates very well real surge levels, especially during storms.
This demanding testing procedure results in effective surge protectors for the ports, which positively influence the reliability of our products, and thanks to them, our devices achieve extremely high failure-free operation expressed by a high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) value. In order to be as objective as possible, we calculate the MTBF from the reliability of operation of the sold devices, according to the following formula: MTBF=H/F, where H=number of operating hours of all sold switches in total and F=number of failures.
This gives our customers a reliable overview of the quality of our equipment. It should be taken into account that MTBF is not only affected by the quality of the equipment itself, but also by the quality of the documentation provided and the technical support provided to customers.
Another frequently used method of calculating MTBF is to calculate the expected MTBF from the reliability of individual components. The main weakness of this method is that it is only an assumption that does not take into account, for example, the occurrence of overvoltages during real operation of the equipment.
The chosen MTBF calculation procedure also provides valuable information for the continuous improvement of the quality of our products, in accordance with the ISO 9001:2009 certified quality system.
So what are the specific benefits of our products with integrated surge protectors?
- Significant savings in system service costs
- 5-year ALL INCLUSIVE warranty
- high safety and reliability of the system operated in this way