NCJ Number
143639
Journal
Security Management Volume: 37 Issue: 5 Dated: (May 1993) Pages: 55-58
Date Published
1993
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes how to counter the destructive effects of power pollution on computer equipment.
Abstract
Studies have shown that up to 80 percent of all computer failures are power related. Computer failures are a security concern because they pose a barrier to a company's mission fulfillment. Removing noise from the electrical environment is one of the most important methods of improving a system's reliability. Power noise consists of electrical disturbances that downgrade the performance and shorten the life of any electronic system exposed to it. A reliable power conditioner should protect a system from all the effects of power-line disturbances. Four leading technologies for industrial power conditioning are isolation transformers, ferroresonant (constant-voltage) regulators, electronic tap-changing regulators, and low-impedance power conditioners. Four basic power conditioning functions are essential for a system to have total protection. One function is to reduce all power line disturbances to levels that are harmless to semiconductors; another function is to provide a clean, single-point, all-purpose reference ground for all loads connected to the conditioner; a third function is to prevent disruptive interaction between noise generating loads connected to the conditioner, and a fourth function is to provide peak current on demand without sacrificing efficiency or going into a bypass mode.