Abstract
This paper presents Pspice modeling methods for spark gaps and ZnO varistors and describes the application for the two-stage surge suppression circuit which was composed of the nonlinear components. The simulation modelings of nonlinear components were conducted on the basis of the voltage and current curves measured by the impulse current with the time-to-crest of $1~50 \mus$ and the impulse voltage with the rate of the time-to-crest of 10, 100 and 1000 V/\mus$. The firing voltages of the spark gap increased with increasing the rate of the time-to-crest of impulse voltage and the measured data were in good agreement with the simulated data. The I-V curves of the ZnO varistor were measured by applying the impulse currents of which time-to-crests range from 1 to $50 \mus$ and peak amplitudes from 10 A to 2 kA. The simulation modeling was based on the I-V curves replotted by taking away the inductive effects of the test circuit and leads. The meximum difference between the measured and calculated data was of the order of 3%. Also the two-stage surge suppression circuit made of the spark gap and the ZnO varistor was investigated with the impulse voltage of $10/1000\mus$$mutextrm{s}$ wave shape. The overall agreement between the theoretical and experimental results seems to be acceptable. As a consequence, it was known that the proposed simulation techniques could effectively be used to design the surge suppression circuits combined with nonlinear components.