Circuit protection can't be an afterthought

Running shoes, hosiery, and nylon shirts can be death for electronic circuits. Taken together, they can generate an electrostatic discharge (ESD) of 30,000V for the briefest of moments, sending handheld devices or laptop computers into a response resembling cardiac arrest. "You walk up to a computer and bam!" Bob Capdevielle, senior applications engineer for Littelfuse Inc., a maker of circuit protection devices, told us. "Suddenly, everything resets."

Still, problems associated with over-voltage and over-current remain an afterthought for most engineers. With their duties expanding and with design cycles compressing, most engineers relegate circuit protection to the end of the to-do list. "These days, engineers have to design the core functionality of their devices as quickly as possible," Jim Colby, manager of technology and business development for Littelfuse, said in an interview. "They have to get the form factor done, get the software done, get the prototype built, and prove out the concept. Then they have time to think about circuit protection."