ABSTRACT
At the beginning of Chapter 2 it was stated that all current interrupting devices must deal with current and voltage transients. Among the current transients of special interest are those which are the direct result of sudden changes in the load impedance, such as in the case of a short circuit. Current transients produced by a short circuit are dependent upon events that are part of the system and therefore they are considered transients that are induced by the system. The voltage transients, on the other hand, are the result of either the initiation or the interruption of current flow. The switching device itself initiates these transients and, therefore, they can be considered as being transients that are equipment induced. However, the characteristics of these transients do not depend on the type of equipment, but rather, they depend upon the parameters and the specific location of each component of the circuit.
