In the varistor market, although the growth rate of perforated pin products is much slower than that of SMT products, the manufacturers predict that the growth rate of perforated pin varistors this year is still between 5% and 10%.

In the U.S. market, although the demand continues to shift to products in the form of SMT packaging, the demand for perforated pin varistors still accounts for about 55% to 60% of the total demand, said Francis Kuzler, senior project manager of Global Information Technology Corporation (WIT).

Traditional radial pin varistors with operating voltage between 150V and 300V are mainly used for industrial surge protection. The market includes telecommunications, data communication, motor control, transient voltage surge suppression and power supply.

Perforated pin varistors are the mainstream in foreign markets, said Richard Kolster, sales manager of Maida Development. Because industrial applications require higher working voltage and more reliable protection functions, devices with pins are still needed in these occasions, while SMT devices can only provide 5V, 25V and 50V working voltage range.  

Although the fastest growing part of varistors in the foreign market is SMT products, Maida does not intend to completely abandon the perforated pin technology. In fact, they hope to continue to maintain the growth of this field. Kolster said: "Surface mount technology will certainly expand to industrial applications with high voltage, but we do not know when it can start."
"In general, the product trend is towards small size and light weight, but in industrial applications, this trend is not as obvious as in electronic applications. Most users tend to reduce the number of components to achieve the purpose of reducing costs and inventory." said John Foster, voltage product market manager of Litteluse.

Many manufacturers have seen the strong growth momentum of this part. Litteluse expects that the global sales of perforated devices will increase by double digits this year. "In some large computer power protection, peripheral circuit and uninterruptible power supply markets, the growth of perforated devices is very strong," Foster pointed out. The strong demand for perforated devices has led to a longer supply cycle, but the price remains stable. Because of the strong demand, the supply cycle is lengthening. The supply cycle of some of the perforated products produced by the company has reached 12 to 14 weeks, while others also need 6 to 8 weeks. The company has expanded its production this year and plans to further expand its production scale next year.

Maida's product delivery cycle can be maintained at 8 to 12 weeks because they produce products locally in the United States, Kolster said. In this industry, the supply cycle may even reach 20-24 weeks in some cases. Therefore, the supply time of domestic varistor manufacturers becomes the key to the competition.

Varistor manufacturers have not ignored the demand for higher surge current capability in industrial applications. From the perspective of potential trends, those devices with higher processing power will help users to choose smaller packages.

For example, the UltraMOV series high surge current, radial pin metal oxide varistors produced by Litteluse are designed for applications requiring high peak surge current processing capacity and high energy absorption capacity. These applications include AC line voltage applications such as TVS, UPS, AC power tap and AC power meter. The package size of the product is 7, 10, 14 and 20 mm, and various radial pins are used.

The company's new HB34 series of industrial high-energy metal oxide varistors are suitable for the surge current suppression of outdoor building main distribution boards and sub-distribution boards, industrial heavy-duty motors, control and power supply equipment. This device is equipped with a solid terminal, which is used for perforation welding on the PCB board. Key performance indicators include: wide voltage range (130V-750V); High energy absorption capacity (200-1050 joules).

Industrial applications have a great demand for HB34 series devices. Foster said: "One of the reasons why users choose this device is that it can be installed by piercing welding, while other forms of packaging need to be fixed on the panel with screws. In order to reduce the number of components and save space on the board, manufacturers pay more attention to integrating fuses with MOV protection devices.