Surge protection is becoming increasingly important, as the infrastructures of intelligent devices and systems are becoming more and more sensitive due to increasing digitalization. Weidmüller developed the new Varitector PU AC IoT surge protection devices specifically for stable 230/400-volt networks; they protect industrial energy networks at the highest level. High demands are placed on the surge protection of production machines and energy generation systems, including their cost-intensive technology. This is also underlined by the IEC/EN 61643-11 standard.

The Varitector PU AC IoT not only protects systems professionally, it is also suitable for use in building infrastructure. Its unique feature is real-time status monitoring - i.e. live monitoring of the arrester. This instrument becomes important in cases where there are deviations from the standard, which are automatically displayed to the user. The Varitector PU AC IoT logs the overvoltage pulses and monitors the status of the protective conductor connection or the history of temporary overvoltages (TOV).

This allows conclusions to be drawn about the service life of the trap and service calls to be better planned, for example for early replacement of the trap. For example, the user receives the operating data for monitoring or a message that the trap has been used up and needs to be replaced at the next maintenance interval.

The operational readiness of the Varitector is particularly important in use. The IoT function withstands the lightning current so that the data is still available for real-time monitoring even after an overvoltage. In addition to applications in building infrastructure, this offers a wide range of possible uses, such as in wind turbines.

When designing the solution, the developers placed particular emphasis on fast and simple cloud integration and communication. One option for networking is the fast direct connection with mobile devices in a point-to-point transmission. Data can also be transmitted via local web interfaces such as routers, switches and IoT couplers.

Intuitive integration into the industrial IoT can also be achieved via web servers. By using the MQTT protocol, users have access to data as standardized protocols that they can easily integrate into their existing engineering systems. The MQTT protocol manages and administers all data traffic via the so-called MQTT broker - messages are received and distributed directly. However, it is not only the standardized provision of data in the cloud that is necessary for IoT applications; simple and cost-effective data monitoring via cloud services is also a decisive factor for easy use in industrial IoT applications. as