National foreword

This Published Document is the UK implementation of IEC 61643‑03:2024.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee PEL/37, Surge Arresters - High Voltage.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

This publication is not to be regarded as a British Standard.

Compliance with a Published Document cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

FOREWORD

1)	The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2)	The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all interested IEC National Committees.
3)	IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any misinterpretation by any end user.
4)	In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5)	IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6)	All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7)	No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC Publications.
8)	Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9)	IEC draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a) patent(s). IEC takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, IEC had not received notice of (a) patent(s), which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at https://patents.iec.ch or www.iso.org/patents. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

IEC TR 61643‑03 has been prepared by subcommittee 37A: Low-voltage Surge Protective Devices, of IEC technical committee 37: Surge Arrestors. It is a Technical Report.

The text of this Technical Report is based on the following documents:

Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in the above table.

The language used for the development of this Technical Report is English.

This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.

A list of all parts in the IEC 61643, published under the general title Low-voltage surge protective devices, can be found on the IEC website.

The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the specific document. At this date, the document will be

reconfirmed,
withdrawn,
replaced by a revised edition, or
amended.

INTRODUCTION

It has been assumed in the preparation of this document that the execution of its provisions is entrusted to appropriately qualified and experienced persons.

Throughout this document, when the “IEC 61643‑x1 series” is mentioned, it refers to all parts of the IEC 61643 series of standards that deal with testing of SPDs, e.g. IEC 61643‑01, IEC 61643‑11.

This part of the IEC 61643 series addresses correct test execution and accurate interpretation of measurement results and is also intended to further enhance repeatability and comparability throughout different test laboratories and to establish an acceptable accuracy level for the test results obtained.

The new SPD classification T1 SPD, T2 SPD and T3 SPD is relating to the former test class oriented classification Class I tests, Class II tests and Class III tests.

1 Scope

This part of IEC 61643, which is a Technical Report, applies to SPD testing in accordance with the IEC 61643‑x1 series and for SPD coordination and system level immunity purposes.

It aims to provide guidance and helpful information for correct test execution and accurate interpretation of measurement results. It is also intended to further enhance repeatability and comparability throughout different test laboratories and to establish an acceptable accuracy level for the test results obtained.

The main subjects are:

Test application
Test arrangement/setup
Probe application
SPD coordination testing
System level immunity testing

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Correspondence between this document and the tests in IEC 61643‑x1

5 Probe application – residual voltage measurements

5.1 Overview

5.2 General

5.3 Guidance for the test arrangement

6 Insulation resistance and dielectric withstand

6.1 General

6.2

6.3

6.4

6.5

7 TOV testing

7.1 TOV testing of SPDs for AC power systems

7.2 TOV testing of SPDs for DC power systems

8 Test application to SPDs with multiple components

8.1 General

8.2 Example of a multiple series spark gap with resistive/capacitive trigger control

8.3 Example of a series spark gap with resistive/capacitive trigger control and with a parallel connected series connection of GDT + MOV(s)

8.4 Example of a 3-electrode GDT with parallel MOV bypass/trigger control

8.5 Example of a 4-electrode spark gap with GDT + MOV trigger control

8.6 Example of a GDT with parallel connected series connection of GDT + MOV

8.7 Example of a 3-electrode spark gap with trigger transformer

9 SPD coordination testing

9.1 Energy coordination

9.2 Let-through energy (LTE) method

9.3 Energy and voltage protection coordination method

10 System level immunity testing

10.1 General

10.2 SPD discharge current test under normal service conditions:

10.3 Induction test due to lightning currents:

10.4 Recommended test classification of system level immunity (following IEC 61000‑4‑5):

Bibliography

PD IEC/TR 61643-03:2024

Low-voltage surge protective devices - SPD testing guide

Current

Published:

31 Jul 2024