Arc Suppression Technologies Introduces NOsparc GGXAC Arc Suppressors

Bloomington, Minn., August 1, 2016 — Arc Suppression Technologies, Inc., a Minneapolis-based startup, announced today that it has introduced a NOsparc® GGXAC arc suppressor that could save industrial and commercial users billions of dollars in replacement power contactors, electric motors, and unplanned maintenance costs. The patented, UL Recognized Component GGXAC is designed to protect power contactors and the electric motors they operate from single phasing, the leading cause of contactor and motor failure. Single phasing occurs when a pair of contact points fail due to the destructive arcing that takes place each time they open or close. This causes the motor to run continuously, which builds up heat within the motor and leads to its failure.

Decades ago, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla both recognized that electric power switches (including electromechanical relays and contactors) produce powerful electrical arcs each time the contact points open and close. These arcs are destructive to the switches themselves and to the systems or motors they operate. At the time, the technology did not exist to enable them to address this problem.

In development for more than 7 years, the solid-state NOsparc GGXAC arc suppressor solves this problem by sensing the precise moment of arc ignition and shunting 99.9% of the arc energy through the arc suppressor. This technological feat not only extends the lifetime of the contactors by a factor of 10 or more, but it also prevents the failure of the motors that they operate.

The compelling utility of the new GGXAC is that it is designed to protect a very broad range of motors – those with locked rotor amperages (LRA) ranging from 115A to 195A. There are hundreds of millions such motors in the world today, including refrigeration compressors, scroll compressors for air conditioning, water pumps, heaters, fans, dehumidifiers, automatic doors, CNC machines, and injection molding machines. Within just one sector application – refrigeration compressors in U.S. grocery and convenience stores – there are millions of contactors and $3,000- to $10,000-motors that are vulnerable to premature failure due to single-phasing.

“We believe that the economic value of the NOsparc GGXAC arc suppressor is immediate and profound,” says Bob Thorbus, co-founder and CEO of Arc Suppression Technologies. “Destructive contact arcing has been a problem for so long that commercial and industrial users have been conditioned to accept the enormous annual costs of contactor and motor failure. Now they have a simple, low cost, and elegant solution that will allow a great deal of money to fall to their bottom line. Each time a GGXAC is wired to a power contactor, the user saves the cost of at least nine replacement contactors, many hours of maintenance and repairs, and quite probably the cost of at least one expensive motor.”

In late 2015 and early 2016, the GGXAC was put through rigorous on-site testing by one of the world’s largest grocery chains. Based on the success of those tests, the company is now rolling out the product throughout its U.S. stores.

About Contact Arcing
As a power contactor, relay or switch opens and closes, an electrical arc forms between the metal contacts. Each arc is tremendously hot and destructive to the contact surfaces, eventually leading to the failure of the contactor itself. In addition, the arc is source of electromagnetic interference, and also creates ozone and nitrous oxide pollutants.