Evaluation of mathematical models of metal oxide surge arrester for energy absorption study

Metal oxide surge arresters (MOSA) are widely used to protect insulation of a power system or part of it against excessive stress due to over voltages. Metal oxide elements are capable to dissipating energy of transient over voltage in term of heat. MOSA's have very nonlinear V-I characteristic that include a dynamic behavior, so their modeling is still a problem. There are several models for surge arresters. Appropriate modeling of their dynamic characteristics is very important for insulation coordination, arrester location and energy absorption studies. The objective of this paper is comparison study between several models of surge arrester applicable for energy absorption study.