Design of Transient Protection Systems

Nihal Kularatna is an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He won the New Zealand Innovator of the Year Award (2013). His electronic engineering career spans 45 years and he is currently active in research in supercapacitor applications, power converter topologies, and power conditioning. He has contributed to over 160 papers and authored nine books. Multiple patents were granted for his supercapacitor assisted (SCA) circuit topologies. Before migrating to New Zealand in 2002, he was the CEO of the Arthur C Clarke Institute in Sri Lanka. His 100 research contributions include papers in satellite remote sensing physics, computational neurodynamics, general anesthesia, EEG signal processing, supercapacitor applications, surge suppression, and rechargeable battery modeling. With Moira Steyn-Ross, he edited the 2010 Springer volume "Modeling Phase Transitions in the Brain." He has been an active researcher for 30 years, with particular interest in the physics and mathematics of nonlinear threshold phenomena. He has served Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies for 10 years in different capacities, and he is a contributor to several patents on supercapacitor assisted techniques such as supercapacitor assisted low dropout regulator (SCALDO) and supercapacitor assisted surge absorber (SCASA). He is currently a PhD student at University of Waikato, working on the implementation aspects of SCASA technique, which is currently licenced to an Australian power quality products company. Jayathu Fernando holds BSc and MSc degrees from University of Colombo, and University of Moratuwa, respectively. He holds BE, MSc and PhD degrees from Bangalore University, University of Aberdeen, and University of Waikato, respectively. His PhD thesis was on Surge Propagation studies under the supervision of the first two authors of this work, and his MSc thesis was on Computer Simulation of DC-DC Switching Converter Systems. He has developed mathematical models for nonlinear surge protection devices and employed MATLAB-based numerical simulations to predict the incipient failure of electronics in transient voltage suppressor systems (TVSSs). He has also validated the numerical simulations experimentally using a lightning surge simulator. Sisira James has served Sri Lanka Telecom PLC as a senior telecommunications professional for more than 11 years.