Effects of Power Line Disturbances on Microprocessor based Equipment

It is the objective of this paper to determine the levels at which Normal and Common Mode AC powerline disturbances affect the operation and integrity of microprocessor based equipment. These disturbances impact on system operation in varying degrees, from disruption of logic to actual degradation and component failure. The results summarized in this paper are based on observations of the DC output voltage variation of typical power supplies when subjected to surge testing based on ANSI/IEEE C62.41-1980 Voltage Waveforms. It can be concluded from these observations that AC powerline transients in the range of magnitude of 100 volts peak or greater, have a significant effect on the DC output voltages of typical power supplies. It was also determined that transients in the Normal Mode were more disruptive to DC power supply operation than those in the Common Modes.