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!
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Is it possible to protect your industrial electronics from lightning damage? Often Is the lightning damage to electronics repairable? Sometimes. So far there is no equipment, technology or method that can change the weather to prevent the occurrence of lightning. Buildings, devices, wiring and humans or animals can be damaged by lightning no matter whether it strikes directly or indirectly. Packing up to 100 million volts of electricity, lightning's destructive electricity can explode brick, ignite roofs, sidewalls, or framing, and cause operational breakdown and degradation that induces harmful electrical surges that can destroy installations and assets. To prevent this kind of damage to a structure, a complete lightning protection system is the best way to dissipate the dangerous electrical discharge. This system is different than the surge protectors you plug in for computers and other electronics. Surge protectors will not protect your equipment from a lightning strike, only against electrical line surges. The total impact on businesses increases further still when considering the costs of a lightning damage to small and medium sized businesses. Interesting Facts about thunderstorms
Increasing risk is what really distinguishes lightning strikes from other causes of infrastructure failure. However, today, lightning related failures are almost completely preventable. Technologies available today allow any facility, structure, or operation can be protected from loss in the event of a lightning strike. LEC’s Dissipation Array System helped Turner Broadcasting reduce electronic system maintenance by over 85%. Our 3 practical steps improve protection against lightning damage:
Conclusion Preventing lightning damage ahead of time gives you the best chance of reducing unnecessary costs down the road. Solutions are available with us to provide lightning protection for buildings and facilities. Contact LEC expert for more information. In an electrical installation, an earthing system or grounding system connects specific parts of that installation with the Earth’s conductive surface for safety and functional purposes such as:
LEC’s grounding rod also known as Chem-Rod is ultra-efficient and can be used to replace as many as 10 conventional rods. Advantages are:
Grounding rods and their accessories provide high fault current capacity for LV, MV and HV substations, towers and other distribution applications. They can be used for both overhead and underground networks to achieve optimum earthing for distribution and transmission. Grounding method used consists of grounds rods spaced about 10 m (33 ft) apart and driven into the earth. If available, other grounding objects are interconnected, such as utility systems building electrical ground systems, etc. However careless installation of grounds for other equipment, such as cable TV, security systems or generators can lead to damage. Thus regular inspection and maintenance is important.
Thank you for reading, Lightning Eliminators & Consultant Inc., is a leading manufacturer and supplier of lightning protection systems and solutions including grounding rods. To get a quote, talk to one of our engineering experts. Implementation of the Charge Transfer System (CTS) offers a wide range of protection against direct lightning strokes; from the enhancement of the strike collection ability to the total prevention of strokes into the protected premise. Let us explain the concept of Charge transfer System and the lightning protection products that together make this technology so amazing! The Charge Transfer Systems are based on using the point discharge phenomenon as a charge transfer mechanism from the protected site to the surrounding air. The electrostatic field created by the storm cell will draw that charge away from the protected site, leaving that site at a lower potential than its surroundings. That is, the protective system releases, or leaks off, the charge induced in the area of concern to a level where a lightning stroke is impractical. Lightning Protection Product 1 The DAS/SBI The DAS/SBI Ionizer is a multipoint device. It’s designed to efficiently produce ions from many points simultaneously. Their ionizing capability helps keep the local electric field below lightning potential, making the protected site less likely to experience direct strikes. The SBI unique design and geometry also enable it to collect an incoming strike from virtually any direction, creating a larger area of protection than standard air terminal. Lightning protection product 2 Grounding System The ionizer assembly alone, of course, is not sufficient. The system must be grounded. The Ground Current Collector (GCC) provides the source of charge to keep the ion current flowing through the array and discharge the site. The GCC in a land base application can be the existing ground gird if the ground grid contains horizontal bare interconnecting conductors commonly connected together. Lightning Protection Product 3
ChemRod It’s a part of the grounding system; since it improves DAS/SBI’s performance we give it a special mention. When installing an SBI, it’s recommended that the customer installs at least one Chem-Rod, a low DC surge impedance and low resistance grounding electrode. It will improve the performance of the SBI in both the charge collection function and in the stroke diversion function. Lightning protection Product 4 Transient Voltage Surge Suppression (TVSS) Secondary lightning, surge and transients are the greatest source of destructive and disruptive phenomena that electrical and electronic equipment experience in day-to-day operations. LEC’s surge suppression devices as a protective system prevent both instant loss and catastrophic failures and protect the system’s reliability. The risks from lightning are real, and traditional lightning protection products do not adequately cover all the risks. The secondary effects which cause much of the damage are in fact increased by collecting strikes. We are a full service consulting firm aligned to solve your most complex challenges in lightning protection, grounding, and surge suppressions. Continue Reading... Franklin-type lightning rods protect wind turbines against direct lightning strikes. But complete lightning protection in accordance with IEC 61024-1 only comes through the use of a custom built lightning protection design system such as LEC’s manufactured and patented IPG (Ion Plasma Generator). Inside 20 years, the U.S., Europe and Japan have the potential for generating up to 40% of their electrical needs from wind energy. With the trend toward larger wind turbines, the cost/kWh for generating electricity continues to drop. As a result, many countries are developing and constructing wind farms. Even older wind turbine projects are being re-furbished and upgraded with larger turbines. Unfortunately, today’s larger high-tech wind turbines are more vulnerable to lightning strikes, particularly in storm-prone areas. The cost of not adequately protecting wind turbines from lightning can become a significant drawback to the benefits of the technology. In at least one recorded case, a turbine blade was completely destroyed by lightning. Because the two remaining blades continued to rotate, the resulting unbalance twisted the tower, causing it to collapse. The total loss of the wind turbine system cost the owner more than $1 million. Therefore, for wind power to continue to grow it’s imperative that they be protected from lightning. Lightning protection design system is the solution
For years the focus of Lightning Eliminators & Consultants, Inc. has been on researching the science of strike collection. From this research the company developed a collection system process: the Ion Plasma Generator (IPG). The patented Ion Plasma Generator is a highly effective air terminal engineered for applications where lightning prevention is not practical, but that still require reliable protection from direct strikes. In order for lightning to reach earth, the electrical field between the storm cloud and ground must grow strong enough to overcome the insulating effect of the air between them. When this occurs it triggers a lightning strike, which in turn balances the electrical charge. The IPG collector creates a corona plasma or dense massive flow of attractive ions. During operation, the IPG directs the corona plasma upward to capture any direct lightning strikes. All are captured in the last few milliseconds of the lightning’s trip to earth. The dense plasma presents a far more attractive force than the wind turbine blades or any other form of streamer. The IPG strike collector is effective up to 320 ft. Compared to a single lightning rod of the same height; the IPG provides a collection zone several times larger. LEC is successfully installing and maintaining IPG lightning protection design system to wind farms across the world. As we see temperatures rise, the threat of lightning is expected to increase in areas that become warmer and drier. One lightning strike can cost an Oil and Gas manufacturing company anywhere from $500,000 or more depending on the size and type of facility. While the cost of a lightning strike can be prohibitive, Fuel Tank Lightning protection costs a mere fraction of that. It doesn’t matter what part of the world you are in or how often lightning events happen in your area, it only takes one strike to destroy precious product. In a lightning strike that terminates on or near a floating roof tank (FRT), for example, the current will flow in all directions and will vary in proportion to the lowest path of impedance. One unexpected arc across the roof-shell interface could ignite the fumes that are almost always present and as a consequence put that tank and an entire facility in immediate danger. To combat the risk of rim fires, the industry has been using metal strips called “shunts” that electrically bond the shell and roof of the tank. Unfortunately, the bond that these shunts establish is unreliable and creates a greater risk of sustained arcs due to:
The Retractable Grounding Assembly (RGA) patented by Lightning Eliminators & Consultant Inc.
It’s a retractable bypass conductor made specifically for FRT’s. Installation of bypass conductors is inexpensive and can be done on in-service tanks. Installing RGA’s on FRT’s will eliminate the arcing at the shunts and other roof-shell interfaces caused by the slow components of the lightning stroke. Therefore, installing RGA’s will substantially reduce or eliminate the risk of lightning related tank fires on FRTs. As always, if you have any questions or require additional information on Fuel Tank Lightning Protection, feel free to call us. Being a leader in the field of effective lightning protection systems, Lightning Eliminators & Consultant Inc. has spent many years developing and testing superior lightning protection products. Due to our efforts, we have patented some ground breaking engineering products such as our Dissipation Array System which is engineered to prevent a lightning strike. DAS (Dissipation Array System) prevents lightning strikes by reducing the local, storm-induced electric fields, interrupting the formation of upward streamers, thus preventing lightning strikes in the protected area. Because direct strikes are prevented, most secondary effects are also eliminated. An additional tool is our Spline Ball Ionizer – it uses the same technology as DAS. It’s often an important component of a custom design DAS, but can also be used as a stand-alone lightning protection product. Additionally, there are other patented lightning protection products that combine (depending on the need the area to be protected) to provide full protection against lightning. Grounding and bonding A very important lightning protection product; our grounding systems are responsible for dissipating lightning strike energy safely to the ground. The patented Chem-Rod grounding rod has been proven to be the best grounding (earthing) solution of all the electrodes available. It’s so efficient that even one such rod can replace up to ten standard grounding rods. Also available is LECWELD – it’s an easy and efficient field welding system, requiring no outside power source or equipment for lightning safety installations. , our Ground Augmentation Fill (GAF) is a lightning protection product that is specially formulated to help create low resistance earth interface, making it easier and less expensive to prevent lightning damage. Surge Protection
Surge protection devices along with our lightning protection system as the damage isn’t limited to a direct strike alone – indirect strikes on any data or power lines can be equally catastrophic. LEC has UL listed lightning and surge protection products like Facility Guard (protection capacity of up to 400,000 amps per phase), Transient Limiters (protection capacity of up to 100,000 amps per phase), DC surge protectors (protection capacity of up to 10,000 amps in a range of voltages for all DC applications), etc. Patented Lightning protection products from LEC for is something that every industry will benefit from. Contact LEC to get the most competitive quote! Not all lightning strikes require direct contact to damage exposed oilfield and fuel tanks. A nearby lightning strike can create a chain reaction promoting fire/explosion to an entire site’s tanks, fluids and equipment. The generation of electric charges, their accumulation on material, and the process of dissipating these accumulated charges cause static electricity hazards. Sparks from static electricity are a significant source of ignition. For an electrostatic charge to be a source of ignition, four conditions must be present:
The possibility of a static discharge between the liquid surface and the tank shell, roof supports, or other appurtenances is related to the static-generating qualities of the liquid in the tank. Refined petroleum products that tend to retain static charges can introduce a greater risk of static ignition unless they are handled properly. Exposure from lightning strikes and build-up of static electricity is a major source of fire and tank explosion, or it may be secondary effect from a direct or nearby lightning strike. Fuel tank lightning protection system is the best proactive measure that is taken to avoid such incidents. Below are some more measures to handle such liquid properly.
LEC’s fuel tank lightning protection system For floating roof tanks, LEC’s retractable grounding assembly (RGA) will provide a positive electrical bond between the roof and shell of the tank. To protect against direct lightning strikes to any type of tank, LEC can provide a dissipation array system (DAS) in a variety of configurations, depending on the geometry of the tank. The DAS will continuously dissipate the electrical charge that accumulates on a tank during a thunderstorm, thus preventing the termination of a strike to the tank. Each DAS is custom designed to fit the tank exactly. You have choices in how to protect your assets. Contact us to discuss your options for fuel tank lightning protection system. A lightning protection rod is an external terminal installed in a building or structure. Controlling electrical energy changed the course of civilisation. Among many other discoveries, the lightning rod represents a fundamental milestone. Benjamin Franklin’s idea allowed attracting lightning bolts to points that were not dangerous and aims to attract the lightning to a controlled point of impact and prevent it from striking an unwanted area or people. The original lightning protection rod is a metal bar with a copper tip; the conduction line also has a copper and an underground dissipater. How it works Lightning rods are metal rods attached to the roof of a building; the rod is then attached to either a large piece of copper or an aluminium wire which is connected to a conductive grid buried nearby in the ground. They provide a safe and low-resistance path for lightning to the ground that can be used to conduct the enormous electrical currents when lightning strikes occur. Lightning protection rods do not prevent lightning, but instead essentially “collect” it. They attract strikes and convey the energy to the ground rather than to the building or structure that it is protecting. More than two and a half centuries have passed, the lightning rod still persists – however they have undergone important revisions, including one that takes the prevention approach that Franklin originally envisioned. A new beginning Charge Transfer Systems (CTS), such as LEC’s Dissipation Array System (DAS) work to stop the strike from forming within a predetermined zone. Donald Zipse, a top scientist and researcher from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Life Fellow states, “Proof of lightning rods’ effectiveness lies mainly in empirical and anecdotal evidence. CTS technology, however, is based on existing electrical and physical formulas and mathematical basics. LEC’s patented charge transfer technology is a distinct split from Franklin rods.” While lightning rods help protect a structure and all occupants from a direct strike, a complete lightning protection system, including utility bonding, proper grounding, and surge protection help prevent harmful electrical surges and possible fires caused by lightning entering a structure via wire and pipes. The complete lightning protection system includes; lightning rods, conductor cables, ground electrodes, utility bonding clamps (for water pipes, sprinkler, & gas and/or oil pipes) DAS protection as needed and surge protection.
Our lightning protection rod is engineered to integrate with any building, rig, platform, tower, tank, stack, and other industrial structures. Lightning is produced in thunderstorms when liquid and ice particles above the freezing level collide, and build up large electrical fields in the clouds. Once these electric fields become large enough, a giant “spark” occurs between them (or between them and the ground) like static electricity, reducing the charge separation. The lightning spark can occur between clouds, between the cloud and air, or between the cloud and ground. The risk of a lightning striking against a structure depends on several factors: its height, the number of lightning strikes that fall in the area, if it is surrounded by higher elements or if it is isolated, etc. If the structure does not have a lightning protection system, lightning will normally strike the highest point of the building and look for a way to earth in an uncontrolled way; through antennas, concrete structure, pipes or cables. Packing up to 100 million volts of electricity, lightning's destructive electricity can explode brick, ignite roofs, sidewalls, framing and induce harmful electrical surges that can destroy sensitive electronics. This current flow can cause breakages, sparks and damage to people and equipment inside. In these cases, the hazard increases when the structure contains toxic, flammable or explosive products, being able to extend the lightning damage beyond the impacted structure. To prevent lightning damage to a structure, a complete lightning protection system is the best way to dissipate the dangerous electrical discharge. It is the easiest and only known way to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our property from lightning damage. Conventionally, they collect the electrically charged cloud, preventing it from damaging your facility and discharging it to the ground safely. LEC has revolutionized this technology providing innovative and patented products and services working in lines with charge transfer technology. In very simple words, our technology deters the electrically charged clouds from striking in a protected zone, thus eliminating the risk lightning damage altogether. LEC offers the Dissipation Array System, the SBI, SBT, and the Ion Plasma Generators. Each product performs its own set of functions depending on the objectives of the charge transfer design and area of coverage.
Lightning damage can be catastrophic, contact LEC for a simple, reliable and inexpensive customised solution. |
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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