In this paper, a piecewise-linear Sprott system is proposed and its chaos mechanism is analyzed. According to the Shilnikov theorem, on the condition that the basic characteristics of heteroclinic orbit, Shilnikov inequality and eigenvalue equation are satisfied, by finding a heteroclinic orbit formed by three geometric invariant sets, namely the unstable manifold, heteroclinic point, and stable manifold, a set of real parameters in accordance with the condition of existence of heteroclnic orbit are obtained for this chaotic system. Thus, the existence of heteroclnic orbit has been proved. Finally, according to this set of real parameters, the circuit design and experimental verification has been carried out.