Electrical Protection Against Lighting

Industrial installations that are utilized for businesses are constantly at risk for damage to equipment.  This is primarily due to the exposed nature of an industrial installation, being located in a remote area or having structures that are taller than surrounding structures.  This physical makeup is necessary for most businesses to properly function, yet the very makeup of the installation also exposes it to inclement weather patterns.  The most damaging aspect of weather is lightning strikes, which produce large-scale damage both at the strike point as well as to the connected equipment.

Industrial installations like wind farms, solar farms, cellular tower systems and communications towers are all attractants for lightning strikes.  While there is little that can be done to prevent damage at the actual point of the strike, which will almost always be completely destroyed or at least seriously damaged and rendered offline, there is a phenomenon that happens post-strike that will actually produce more damage costs than the destruction at the strike point.  This involves the large surge of electricity that accompanies a lightning strike, and it;s ability to easily travel along power lines and data cables.  The structure that is in the field is generally connected to control equipment of some kind, nearly always being made up of sensitive computerized equipment that cannot withstand a surge beyond a set point without having circuit damage.  This equipment is directly tied to the structure that is in the field, and is the attractant for the lightning strike.  Once the strike happens, the surge of electricity produced travels along the connection lines overloading every piece of equipment in its path, and creating a situation where this equipment must then be repaired or replaced before functionality can be restored.  Only through adequate lightning protection can this damage be avoided, as surge protection devices are mounted along the power transfer lines and cables in order to immediately cut the flow if a surge is detected.

Through the integration of adequate surge protection within the critical paths that an electrical flow can travel, it is possible to isolate the damage of a lightning strike to the point of strike itself and no further.  This isolation of predictable damage can reduce operating costs for almost any business that uses industrial equipment to perform its function.  Without lightning protection, industrial operators risk large scale damage at any moment which ultimately could have been avoided.