Lightning, with its intense electrical energy, is a potent force of nature. The moment a lightning bolt strikes, it can bring about catastrophic damage. It’s not just about the visible flash or the deafening thunderclap; the risks associated with lightning extend far beyond the initial shock. Lightning strikes can cause fires, damage structures, disrupt electrical systems, and harm lives. Every flash of lightning is potentially carrying millions of volts of electricity. Contrary to popular belief, lightning can strike anywhere repeatedly; it doesn’t always strike tall buildings and can even strike up to 80 kilometers away from the point of impact. That’s where lightning protection comes into play as a guardian against these potentially devastating effects. An outdoor lightning protection installation is designed to protect critical structures, equipment, and facilities against lightning's direct and indirect effects. The main components are:
This lightning protection system by LEC is called a Charge Transfer System. It’s intended to prevent lightning strikes within a protected zone or area. The CTS collects the induced charge developed by thunderstorm clouds from a designated protected area of the earth and transfers this charge through the ionizer into the surrounding air.
Some lightning protection system that functions as CTS are:
Protect your assets, ensure your operations continue uninterrupted, and safeguard the lives within your structure. Connect with Lightning Eliminators & Consultant Inc. today to explore how we can tailor a lightning protection solution to your specific needs, bringing you unparalleled protection.
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Lightning is a powerful natural force capable of discharging up to 100 million volts of electricity in a single strike. This immense energy can wreak havoc on electrical and electronic systems, leading to costly downtime and repairs. What can be done to provide lightning rod protection? Fortunately, there are measures you can put in place to provide different levels of lightning protection to protect your facility and electronics equipment that can provide protection even in the event of a nearby hit:
The use of specialized lightning rod protection equipment is the most effective way to reduce the risk of damage to infrastructure or fires and explosions caused by lightning. LEC specializes in providing comprehensive solutions designed to address the lightning challenges faced by manufacturing industries. Our team of experts brings a deep understanding of the industry and technical expertise in lightning protection and risk mitigation. We offer a range of specialized services tailored to safeguard the productivity, profitability, and safety of manufacturing operations. Our LEC services include:
Our solutions encompass surge protection devices, advanced grounding systems, lightning rods, and other industry-standard measures to safeguard critical equipment, control systems, and operational facilities. The LEC's Advantage over the other vendors is our unique market-leading experience, knowledge, and expertise. We have an excellent library of technical articles, research papers, client success stories, and product presentations that document the success of our patented solutions. The LEC management team members are recognized experts in the field of lighting control and prevention, with a strong background in business and financial leadership. We understand the need to justify and conduct a cost-benefit analysis of any expenditure. At the same time, we also know first-hand that any reasonable risk analysis will support exploring our products and services. The LEC Advantage is the heart and soul of our products and services. LEC technical development superiority, consulting services, and lightning rod protection solutions are customized for each client. Grounding protection is referred to as protective earthing. It is an essential technical measure taken to prevent personal electric shock and ensure the regular operation of electrical equipment. The basic principle of grounding rod and protection is to limit the leakage current of the leakage device to the ground so that it does not exceed a specific safety range. Once the protection device exceeds a particular set value, the power supply can be automatically cut off. The grounding protection has the following advantages:
Transient overvoltages are daily events in electric power systems. Switching is their main initiator, but switching surges are relatively easy to handle. However, lightning surges are the most severe and challenging to manage. They may increase the system voltage to many times the rated voltage. If the equipment in the power system is not protected against lightning surges, considerable damage will occur. LEC’s lightning protection system diverts lightning and provides a specific path for conducting the surges safely to the ground by adequate down conductors to grounding rod. Thus, it helps prevent disastrous events like fires, injuries, and deaths.
Their patented Chem-Rod Grounding Electrode is the latest electrode used worldwide. It provides a low surge impedance as well as low resistance earth contact. The ground augmentation fill is the key component that makes this Chem-Rod maintenance-free, giving a longer performance and ensuring the best grounding connection possible. It has a large conductive surface but takes up far less land mass and can easily replace ten conventional grounding rods. In conclusion, grounding is essential in preventing electrical faults from becoming dangerous by providing a safe pathway for electric currents to travel without risking human life or property damage. Keep yourself protected adequately with grounded equipment today. Get in touch with us today. Our Smart Ground Testing services are engineered to offer reliable, very practical solutions to improve the grounding system, and its audits are highly accurate. Don't wait until an accident happens before taking action. You have decided to install a lightning protection system, including a grounding rod and surge protection device, in your facility. By doing this, you know that it will protect people from electrical shock, help safeguard expensive electronic equipment, limit neutral to ground voltage, and satisfy NEC along the way. Now, the big question is, which is the best low-resistant, high-quality grounding rod? An efficient grounding system is critical to personnel safety and uninterrupted operations. However conventional ground rods are typically insufficient for industrial uses where target resistance can be less than 1 ohm. An earthing system or grounding system connects specific parts of an electrical installation with the Earth's conductive surface for safety and functional purposes. Regulations for earthing systems vary considerably among countries, though many follow the recommendations of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Engineered to meet applicable design and safety standards, the Chem-Rod, a patented grounding rod by LEC, is uniquely suited for both general grounding and as the foundation of a complete lightning protection system. The Chem-Rod solves problems found with conventional ground rods by requiring less real estate and fewer electrodes to meet specified resistance. This grounding rod is constructed to comply with UL requirements. Our Chem rod is a large copper tube with extremely low AC impedance, and each Chem-Rod creates an optimal electrical connection to the earth with a large conductive surface. The earth/electrode interface is further enhanced by conductive backfill and electrolytic salts, ensuring a consistent path to the ground.
1.It’s Efficient Lower resistance/impedance achieved with fewer rods 2.It’s Consistent Maintains low resistance in changing temperature and soil conditions 3.It’s Economical Cost-effective for reaching target resistance at large sites or where space is limited 4.It’s Reliable Service life of over 30 years with no increase in resistance when properly maintained 5.It’s Low-Maintenance Designed for easy inspection and refill With an effective lightning protection, surge protection, and grounding system in place, the excess electricity will be diverted to the earth, thereby protecting your sensitive electronics and personnel. Installing a grounding rod is a necessary and smart move. Get started today! Fires resulting from lightning strikes cause 3 to 5 percent of all U.S. commercial property insurance claims, and beyond the fire is the destruction of electrical wires and infrastructure that supports everything we do to communicate and conduct business. LEC shares some steps you should be taking to prevent lightning damage: 1. Lightning rods to disperse direct and indirect strikes The best protection from lightning damage to a facility are modern lightning rods, that are part of complete lightning protection systems that work to safely direct lightning around or through a facility without allowing the excess voltage to damage or destroy structures and assets. Modern systems, such as our patented DAS, create a lightning prevention shield that eliminates the possibility of direct lightning damage and side-flash, which is an arc of electricity that can jump across gaps and damage devices, and even injure bystanders. 2. Voltage arresters help stop excess voltage traveling from utility lines or other buildings Also known as surge protectors, these should be used between your wall outlets and your electronics. Aside from the fact that they successfully divide the more delicate interior wiring and equipment from the high-voltage exterior power lines and wiring, most of the time, they will shield the electronics within your building from potentially harmful voltage spikes caused by indirect lightning strikes or problems with utility lines. SPDs help to protect your refrigeration units, air conditioning systems, web and data servers, and other devices that are impractical to unplug during a storm. 3. A good disaster recovery plan helps get your business back on track when things go wrong
All businesses, particularly those that depend on electronics such as point-of-sale systems and IT phone services, ought to have a disaster recovery plan in place. A solid disaster recovery plan minimizes the possibility of downtime and contains procedures for mitigating the effects of a disaster. Insurance may pay for damaged equipment, but prolonged downtime can bankrupt nearly any company unless you have a well-thought-out plan in place for swiftly restarting operations. Fortunately, taking advantage of all these tips can help keep your downtime to a minimum, and make it easier for your business to avoid lightning damage and bounce back from one. Connect with our lightning eliminator experts to know more. Do you know that a lightning protection system designed and installed to international standards reduces the risk of lightning damage to a structure and the systems and people within it? The cost of lightning damage is downtime, reduced production, and industrial electronic repairs or replacement costs. There are some things you can do to help minimize lightning damage:
We have 3 individual product lines that can be integrated together for a comprehensive lightning protection system. These product lines include lightning prevention products like our Dissipation Array Systems (DAS), Spine Ball Ionizers (SBI), Spine Ball Terminals (SBT), Streamer Delaying Air Terminals (SDAT), Grounding and Surge solutions. By installing the Dissipation Array System, patented by LEC, you can limit the build-up of static charge in the protection area and discourage secondary and EMP effects, damage to equipment, and disruptions in operations caused by direct or nearby lightning strikes, thereby enhancing site reliability. Certified specialists will install lightning protection systems on your property in accordance with the national safety standards of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to protect it from lightning strikes. Our systems shield your facility by eliminating the streamer formation over the protected area, thus preventing lightning damage. Contact LEC for a design tailored to your facility's requirements. Grounding Rods have various functions & advantages. They are also known as electrodes or earth rods, and their fittings are used for effective earthing systems in overhead and underground electricity distribution and transmission networks. These are used singularly or in groups to:
Without an effective grounding system, you could be exposed to the risk of electric shock, not to mention instrumentation errors, harmonic distortion issues, power factor problems, and a host of possible intermittent dilemmas. If fault currents have no path to the ground through a properly designed and maintained grounding system, they will find unintended paths that could include equipment and people. First, a few facts about a grounding rod:
While oftentimes, much attention is given to proper design, it is equally, if not more important, to select quality materials for the grounding rod that meet the application needs of the building. This will go a long way towards ensuring the system lasts and provides continuous and safe pathways for both electrical faults and lightning discharge currents. LEC recommends Copper grounding rods by LEC are an excellent addition to the tools that we use to reduce ground system DC resistances and AC impedances. This provides a much better environment in which a direct lightning strike can be shunted to the ground. Copper grounding rods are designed to meet UL requirements. Our Chem Rod is a large-diameter copper tube with very low AC impedance. Each Chem-Rod creates the perfect electrical connection to the earth with a large conductor surface. The earth/electrode interface is further improved by conductive backfill and electrolytic salts to create a consistent conductive pathway to the ground. If you have any questions regarding this piece or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us. When lightning strikes something, it looks for a path of least resistance. A grounding rod and wires are used to conduct the current from the lightning to the ground. This allows the lightning to pass through your expensive electronics instead of through it. Grounding rods and wires can also be used to create common ground: when a copper rod is driven into the ground, electric and electronic equipment is connected to it with wires or straps. This creates a path of least impediment for all your equipment in case the lightning causes an electrical surge. LEC’s grounding rod also known as Chem-Rod, is ultra-efficient and can be used to replace as many as ten conventional rods. Advantages are:
Application:
The Chem-Rod improves reliability for many applications, including:
Our services: Before a grounding rod or an entire grounding system can be installed, a few other activities must first be undertaken.
Lightning Eliminators & Consultants Inc. are pioneers in this field for decades, and our name is synonymous with international standard protection and no strike warranty. The answer is a simple YES. Reason:
Solution: By installing a Dissipation Array System, patented by LEC, you can limit the build-up of static charge in the area of protection and discourage secondary and EMP effects, damage to equipment, and disruptions in operations caused by direct or nearby lightning strikes, thereby enhancing site reliability. The DAS comprises of 3 major components: the Ionizer, Down Conductor, and Ground Electrode. Under the influence of the thunderstorm, the DAS continuously transfers charges from the surface of the earth up to the Ionizer, dissipating these charges into the air to create corona space charges above the protected facility. This corona space charge provides a shielding effect for the objects of protection from the influence of the electric field generated by the storm. The lightning rod protection principle is to suppress or delay the formation of upward streamers generated from the protected facility. This makes the facility the least potential position to generate a counter leader, a necessary precursor to a complete lightning termination. No counter leaders, no lightning termination. The importance of the lightning rod protection system lies in the protection of human lives, physical structures, and equipment, so when is the best time to plan for lightning rod protection?
Did you know that lightning rod protection ensures how to properly place air terminals, run cable, ground, and bond in order to ensure maximum safety in this energy transfer and dissipation? While A surge protective device (SPD) is designed to protect electrical systems and equipment from surge and transient events by limiting transient voltages and diverting surge currents. Together they are the perfect pair for lightning rod protection. Lightning Eliminators and Consultant’s best lightning rod protection system is respected as the industry-leading solution and is installed on thousands of towers, buildings, plants, and factories. Get a quote today! Preventing static electricity and lightning-related hazards such as step/touch voltage, lightning fire, equipment damage, etc. is achieved by installing an effective Lightning Protection System (LPS) on the structure of concern. The effectiveness of such a Lightning Protection System is dependent on the nature and the thoroughness of the design of the grounding and bonding system implemented on and around the structure and how well it is maintained after installation. Floating roof tanks are extremely susceptible to not only direct lightning strikes but nearby currents as well. The shell of these structures commonly discharges currents more rapidly than the floating roofs. Studies have shown that lightning-related issues cause 31% of all floating roof tank fires. A single lightning incident could result in the loss of life, product and production time, avoidable incident review time, damaged equipment, wasted repair cost, bad publicity, and loss of income. To prevent this from happening, LEC recommends that both Dissipation Array Systems and Retractable Grounding Assemblies to maximize fuel tank lightning protection.
Benefits of installing Retractable Grounding Assembly (RGA 750 – Generation 2):
By taking these proactive steps with Lightning Eliminators for fuel tank lightning protection to protect greatly reduce your facility’s exposure to fire, and created a safer environment. Not just any solution, but the right fuel tank lightning protection solution from LEC can solve this industry-wide problem. |
AuthorLightning Eliminators & Consultants, Inc. (LEC) serves its clients by installing and maintaining lightning protection systems (LPS), and prevention solutions. Equipped with over four decades of experience, LEC has provided successful support to over 90 countries and throughout the United States. Archives
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