Surge arrester with spring clip assembly

Abstract

A surge arrester particularly suited for secondary side protection of distribution transformers, includes a low-voltage, high-energy varistor disk having electrodes disposed about its facing surfaces and a self-compressing spring clip with spring arms disposed about the varistor to provide the compressive force necessary to maintain good electrical contact between the electrodes and the varistor. The arrester includes terminals for electrically interconnecting the electrodes with the electrical apparatus being protected by the arrester. The arrester further includes a dielectric coating substantially enveloping the varistor, the spring clip and electrodes. The arrester requires no other housing. The spring arms may be made in a variety of configurations and shapes and may be interlaced with adjacent spring clip and varistor subassemblies so as to form three-phase or other multi-pole arresters. A particular preferred embodiment of a multi-pole arrester includes two or more varistors and a spring clip having a central base member and two spring arms. The spring arms form lobes disposed one on either side of the base member, and the base member and spring arms are all integrally formed from a single piece of material.