Surge Protection For Telecom
Telecommunications systems rely upon critical equipment in
order to not only provide coverage within specific areas to their customers,
but also to provide communications capabilities through their interconnected
network. People rely upon cellular
connectivity for their routine daily tasks as well as for critical
communications during times of emergency.
Connectivity to emergency services is crucial at all times, and can be
the difference between life and death in some instances. The challenging aspect of this responsibility
is the fact that the same kind of inclement weather conditions that can bring
on the necessity for connectivity to emergency services, also has the
capability to destroy the equipment that provides that connectivity. One of the most common causes of damage to
telecom systems as well as outages in connectivity is lightning strikes to the
towers that provide the unobstructed signals to cell phones. In order to provide the best and clearest
signal possible, cellular towers must be the tallest structures within an area,
ultimately making them a perfect target for lightning strikes. Much of the equipment that is housed within
these towers as well as the materials with which the towers themselves are
constructed are also attractants of lightning.
When the strikes happen to the cell tower top, it has the ability to not
only damage or destroy equipment located nearby but also equipment further
away. This is due to one of the inherent
issues with the telecom business: in
order to provide an unobstructed signal you often must also position yourself
as the best possible target for lightning.
In order to compensate for the obvious issues that come with
these kinds of flaws to a system, the
telecommunications industry has utilized surge protection devices as a buffer
between the lightning strikes and the equipment housed within the towers. This is an attempt to minimize the amount of
damage that is produced by inclement weather and the lightning strikes which
must be expected. There are various
methods of attempting to lessen the risk exposure of a site to lightning strike,
overhead shields and lightning rods being examples, but it must be expected and
predicted that there will be a certain amount of lightning strikes to the
towers themselves every time there is a thunder storm in the area. The damage that will be produced by the
lightning strike can be mitigated through surge protection equipment. The damages that will generally be found
outside of the strike point are usually based on the electrical surge that is
produced by the strike itself. This
surge overwhelms the circuitry of the computerized equipment, and is able to
travel along power lines that interconnect these devices. These surges are stopped in their tracks by
surge protection equipment installed along the lines that interconnect these
devices. Through a redundant and
effective installation of surge protection devices, the amount of predictable
damage to equipment as well as the outages that will be expected as a result of
this damage can be brought to a minimum.
The integration of surge protection equipment therefore is critical to
the ongoing functionality of telecom systems.
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