A lightning strike is a natural event which significantly affects all outdoor activities and can pose a risk if the right preventive measures are not considered. For many of us fun begins with baseball games, football games, soccer games, lacrosse matches, theme parks, concerts and a myriad of venues which have all experienced lightning strikes while fans, as well as players, performers, operations and media have stood by helplessly… each event is at the mercy of Mother Nature. The National Institute of Lightning Safety of USA (NLSI) insists that the meteorological phenomenon which affects outdoor sports events the most is the lightning strike. Structures where lightning strikes can easily occur or can have serious consequences due to their location; permanently effective lightning protection system must be installed. This is where our Dissipation Array System (DAS) comes in picture.
Lightning is an electric discharge that attempts to equalize voltage between storm clouds and the earth. The difference in polarity between the bottom of the cloud and the ground is the charge differential. When this charge differential is high, the cloud begins to form downward leaders, and objects on the ground begin to form upward streamers. A leader then connects with a streamer, giving lightning the path it needs to exchange charge between the earth and the cloud, thus discharging itself. DAS interrupts the formation of these upward streamers through Point Discharge, a phenomenon where a well-grounded point exchanges ions between the air and the ground. LEC’s DAS technology was introduced in 1971. Since then, over 3,000 systems have been implemented worldwide, accruing over 40,000 system years. DAS has maintained a success rate of over 99%. When lightning threatens a building or facility, the game or event itself is usually postponed, but it is often difficult to ensure the safety of tens of thousands of spectators. Although stadiums may employ a general evacuation plan, complete evacuation is often counterproductive for efficient lightning safety. Get a lightning protection system from LEC!
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Today every building is equipped with many sensitive electronic systems thus they need to be protected from any unforeseen damage such as a lightning strikes. This is the reason more people are considering lightning rod protection than ever before. A lightning rod is installed on the roof of every building – schools, hospitals, health care facilities, airports, shopping centres, office buildings, manufacturing units, etc. In achieving the protection of any objects against lightning, the typical strategy is to install Franklin air terminals—rods that come to a point at the top to capture or attract the lightning at a selected point by means of air terminations, and conducting its unnecessary energy directly to the earth through earth electrodes (with a resistance of less than ten ohms) via low impedance down conductors. Now the scenario has changed. With the advancement in technology, years of research and development and numerous tests in laboratory and in real lightning conditions as necessary; LEC has developed and patented the Dissipation Array System (DAS). Unlike the lightning rod which attracts and grounds the lightning, the DAS charge transfer technology eliminates the lightning strike within a protected zone. Let us explain:
LEC's Charge Transfer System (patented as the Dissipation Array System or DAS) uses a naturally occurring, scientific phenomenon called point discharge to retard the collection of lightning within a finite protection zone. DAS does not attract the lightning. It’s based on the theory of static charge dissipation, where the lightning rod protection is constructed in a way that the terminal does not respond to an approaching strike. Rather it prevents the formation of upward streamers that intercept a downward leader. Lightning rod protection by LEC is a combination of external and internal protection. External protection systems are installed to dissipate a direct lightning strike from the area of protection and reduce the causes of fire due to intense heating. Whereas an internal protection system protects electrical and electronic systems from transient and surge currents caused due to indirect lightning. Is your facility safe from a lightning strike? Talk to our LEC team today, we can evaluate your need for a lightning rod protection system and deliver the electrical solutions your business needs. In recent years, power surge damage has become a bigger problem than it ever. This is because the average facility now has of many more appliances and electronics that are susceptible to electrical surges caused by lightning strikes, electrical malfunctions, bad wiring, and other issues. When a surge occurs, sensitive electronics often need to be repaired or replaced, resulting in thousands of dollars in damages and weeks or months of downtime and inconvenience. Equipment that acts to prevent power surge damage to your critical systems and components ensure you won’t have to deal with costly repairs by using the latest lightning surge protection devices. Surge protectors are not necessary for the functionality of your electronic devices under normal circumstances. However, without a surge protector, a sudden voltage spike and accompanying power surge could damage your electrical appliances, electronics and other plugged-in devices. Even if a power surge doesn’t completely ruin your electronics, it can shorten its lifespan, clear stored data, or otherwise harm them. Lightning surge protection devices are also called transient voltage surge suppressors or TVSS, and they work by diverting high-current power surges to the ground. They help bypass and secure your equipment to limit the power surge damage. All Industrial facilities must have accurately sized surge protectors for optimal protection.
Surge protectors alone are not enough when dealing with harmful electrical surges, especially those caused by lightning. Lightning protection systems have proven to be the most effective way to protect a business from lightning strikes and other power surge damage. These systems are designed to effectively divert energy harmlessly away from your facility or other structure. There are two types of surge protectors on low voltage AC systems and the difference between them is in the ability to divert energy in the form of a current: Class 1 (Lightning Protection) Diverts energy with a current waveform of 10/350ms with current ratings from 10Ka to 35Ka; includes high energy metal oxide varistor (MOV) and gas discharge tube/air gap components. Class 2 (Surge Suppression) Diverts energy with a waveform of 8/20ms with current ratings from 5Ka to 200 Ka; includes silicon avalanche diode (SAD) and metal oxide varistor (MOV). Proper sizing, installation, and coordination of lightning surge protection devices will guarantee your industrial equipment are running smoothly and secure. LEC provides high-quality RF, AC, DC, EMP, and data signal surge protection solutions and enclosures for mission-critical communications worldwide. Joining hands with us, you gain decades of experience, patented technology, and reliable products delivered world-wide. Grounding rods safely dissipate electricity to the earth to prevent short circuits to connected equipment. They’re tapered at one end for driving into the ground and are used with grounding rod clamps to attach conductors. Grounding rods have high levels of conductivity and corrosion resistance, making them suitable for both indoor and outdoor electrical applications. Proper grounding techniques are employed to alleviate a couple of potential problems, electrical safety and protection of equipment from lightning strikes. The question becomes “What is meant by a ground system?” The simple answer is a good connection to the earth that provides a low impedance path for unwanted currents or voltages that may be present. The NEC codes require grounding for protection from electrical shock and for lowering the effects of lightning discharge.
How does a grounding rod reduce resistance? We explain taking the example of our very own and patented Chem-Rod. The Chem-Rod is an ultra-efficient grounding electrode designed to provide the optimal low resistance interface with earth. High-frequency transient events like lightning force the current flow to the surface of an object. In these events, electrodes with more surface area have less impedance. A copper Chem-Rod has about four times more surface area than a traditional ground rod. This larger surface area helps create the low-impedance connection required to safely channel high-frequency lightning currents to earth. Ninety-five percent of the resistance of a grounding electrode is established by the soil within an area whose radius is 1.1 times the grounding rod’s length, called the interfacing hemisphere. The greater the percentage of soil with GAF conductive backfill facilitates a low resistance ground connection. The greater the percentage of soil replaced, the lower the ultimate grounding resistance. With just 1/3 the resistivity of bentonite, GAF has a lower freezing point and expansion factor, and retains moisture better than local soil. Using GAF contributes to the overall safety in application such as electrical substations by reducing step and transfer voltages, even in the worst case soil conditions. The damage caused by a single lightning strike or stray current can cost millions in equipment losses, downtime and personal injury. The Chem grounding rod can reduce these risks more efficiently than other grounding rods by providing the most efficient earth interface. In addition, it meets relevant design codes and international safety standards for protection of personnel, property and sensitive equipment. Lightning Eliminators is a rarity in its thoroughness with the aspects of planning, manufacturing and installation. For any query feel free to contact us. Electrical charges generated in a thunderstorm discharge to the ground with a current of approximately 150 kA. Lightning-induced surge occurs in the cable and instantly applies high energy to the equipment connected to both ends of the cable. These are also called spikes or transients. The duration of these transients is typically measured in microseconds. Without adequate lightning surge protection devices, the greatest consequence is the risk to human life. Secondly there is the potential downtime in production and the cost of replacing valuable and sensitive equipment, insurance claims, and increased insurance premiums. A lightning surge protection device, also known as an SPD, is a shield against surges or transient voltage flowing from the power supply. In other words, it blocks or redirects surge current to the ground instead of passing through the equipment. Technically, most lightning surge protection devices operate with the help of a Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV). This is basically the link between the SPD’s hot wire and its grounding wire. With a variable electrical resistance, the varistor can adjust the incoming voltage that is either too low or too high. For example, when it’s too high, the MOV redirects the excess voltage into the grounding wire, letting it dissipate safely. Then, a normal level of voltage continues to flow through. The MOV essentially acts as a pressure-sensitive valve that only opens when there is too much pressure. The SPD ensures uninterrupted use of your electrical and electronic equipments while protecting them from overcurrent degradation. Incorporating the latest technology, our manufactured lightning surge protection devices divert the surge current directly to the ground and limit the overvoltage to expensive equipment. Each of our products solves a particular challenge:
Our AC power surge protectors such as facility guard, transient limiters, power DIN, and Pro-line are designed for industrial and commercial purposes. Our single line and DC power protection such as coaxial line protectors, transient eliminators, and transient limiters will interface between network equipment and data/signal/telephone lines. Some of the Patented SPDs of Lightning Eliminators & Consultant Inc include:
For maximum safety and protection, all surge protection devices should only be installed by a licensed professional that is familiar with the equipment and its use. No matter the weather, connect with our Lightning Eliminator Surge Specialist and get the best possible solution for your facility. A fundamental component of safety and protection for your business is proper grounding. For this reason, one or more grounding rods are required by the National Electrical Code (NEC) and local building codes.
Grounding rods are simple and inexpensive but crucial to protecting your facilities and electric equipment, and therefore must not be neglected. What is earthing?
it is essential to know that, earthing, though not a visible element, is a fundamental and indispensable part of an electrical system and lightning protection system. Effective grounding rods eliminate problems of their conventional counterparts:
Importance of grounding rod
Details of the grounding rod and the entire grounding system
LEC’s Grounding Rod technology is called Chem Rod. Chem Rod is an efficient grounding system that the reduces the risk of electrical arcing and fires. It improves reliability for many applications, including:
Consult our technical team for information regarding design and installation of LEC’s patented grounding rod solutions. Improper grounding accounts for a large percentage of damage and malfunction of sensitive electronic equipment. Multi-grounding renders equipment susceptible to lightning induced transient over-voltages as well as steady-state noise caused by ground loop currents. These problems can be avoided by
In this article we discuss the grounding rod: Purpose of a grounding rod: Grounding rods conduct current from a lightning strike to the soil.
Copper grounding rods by LEC are a valuable addition to the tools we use to lower ground system DC resistance and AC impedance, which affords a much better environment for a direct lightning strike to be shunted to ground. These grounding rods are 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 earth with a large conductive surface. The earth/electrode interface is further enhanced by conductive backfill and electrolytic salts, ensuring a consistent conductive path to ground.
With an effective lightning protection and grounding system in place, the excess electricity will be diverted to the earth, thereby protecting your sensitive electronics. Our products include air terminal, down connectors, grounding rods, and surge protection products. Grounding electrical work is a necessary and smart move. Get started today! Protection, identification and management of electrical power risks are of primary concern to any company associated with critical infrastructure such as in Water treatment plants. Any points of failure brings about large consequences at the operational level. Securing essential services is a unique challenge for organisations responsible for mission critical operations. Lightning protection design specific to water treatment plants Due to vast surface areas and exposure to their sites, water and wastewater treatment plants are particularly exposed to lightning risks. Lightning strikes are a major risk component, because of the direct effect of lightning on the structure (external lightning protection installation), and because of the over voltages on the facility (internal lightning surge protection). The consequences of lightning on treatment plants can have repercussions on all types of equipment. Overvoltage will directly affect instrumentation and remote management devices as well as PLCs. The Lightning protection design for these facilities involves all types of structures, i.e. pumping stations, treatment plants, storage, transportation and distribution. A functioning Lightning Protection System (LPS) is the prerequisite for protecting people from dangerously high voltages and for safe operations.
A 3 step solution for complete lightning protection design:
Lightning Eliminators & Consultants, Inc. has become one of the most highly regarded company of lightning protection design solutions. With extensive R&D, quality control manufacturing, sales network and distribution points, the company can easily service customers all over the country and beyond. Being pioneers and patent holders of DAS technology, we can customize a solution for any business and even help you choose from a number of products and services. Over the years we have become synonym for quality products, designed at par with international standards. Lightning strikes are an everyday occurrence on planet Earth: on average, lightning strikes occur 100 times every second throughout the world. Even though approximately 80% of those strikes are intra-cloud or cloud-to-cloud, i.e. lightning within the same cloud or between different clouds, they can still pose a risk to airborne objects, such as aircraft. That is why aircraft lightning protection is critical. It doesn’t matter if the aircraft is on the ground or in the air. Lightning typically strikes through one of four external places:
How are aircraft protected? A combination of lightning protection systems make aircraft very well, though not completely protected from lightning. The Main protection systems include:
Why don’t most people know when lightning strikes their plane while in the air?
The way an aircraft tries to dissipate step leaders is through something called a "static wick". A static wick is a piece of metal connected electrically to the frame of the aircraft, with spikes or needles on the end. It is housed in a fiberglass rod to insulate it from the airplane. Because the spikes concentrate the electric charge around them, and they are connected to the airframe, they allow the airplane to dissipate any static electricity it may build up out into the air. If lightning does strike the plane, the electricity will go through the dissipater and not through the airplane using the same principle as the LEC Dissipation Array System. Lightning poses a serious threat to aircraft, and they must be protected. Lightning Eliminators & Consultants (LEC) provides integrated lightning protection and lightning prevention products, solutions and services. Our solutions utilize innovative patented charge transfer technology, grounding systems and surge protection design. LEC has successfully installed and maintained lightning protection systems (LPS) in over 60 countries and throughout the United States for over 50 years. Tall towers transmitting cellular signals are located almost everywhere you look. For best reception, communication equipment and antennas are mounted on towers and buildings, permitting wireless communication and signal transmission for phones and radios. It is necessary for this electric equipment and supporting technology to work correctly to ensure proper signal reception and uninterrupted communication in the area. Due to their height, communication towers require a well-designed and proper lightning protection system. LEC provides cutting-edge lightning protection devices for telecommunication towers on the market. Our exclusive, state-of-the-art components are the highest quality available, with new and improved products consistently under development. Streamer Formation Due to the design and the nature of the equipment on communication towers there are many points along the height of the structure that a streamer can form. Especially where sensitive technology such as dishes and antennas are located. LEC Tower Kit Due to the overwhelming demand for tower protection, we have created a package specifically designed to protect towers simply called the Tower Kit. Comprised of lightning protection, grounding and lightning surge protection devices, it is a cost-efficient and easy-to-implement system which will provide towers and the associated equipment the protection that they need. The lightning protection devices included in the tower kit:
LECT TOWER KIT STRUCTURE
The entire structure and the connected communication equipment can be properly shielded and made immune to long-term exposure. Get your lightning protection device quote today! |
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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