Lightning Protection Products

Did you know that lightning is the single biggest cause of damage to and destruction of electrical and electronic equipment in industrial facilities and commercial buildings?  Also, that thunderstorms occur virtually everywhere and that puts any building at risk.

Due to the ever-changing climate and rise in temperature lightning strikes are becoming more and more frequent.

Some statistics

-          In Salzburg, Austria, a gondola system was shut down due to lightning strike, leaving about 150 people stranded while visiting the Eisriesenwelt ice caves.

-          A SandRidge Energy tank battery burned after it was struck by lightning just west of Enid, Okla in March’18

-          A voltage spike that resulted from a severe weather condition including a lightning strike brought down the data center cooling system in San Antonio.

-          As of July’2018, the total number of fatalities from lightning was 11, with 5 being struck and killed in Florida

Types of lightning damage may include blown fuses, flashover of insulation inside motors or transformers, vaporized transistors and integrated circuits, vaporized traces on printed circuit broads, and other damage that places the business on hold for an indeterminate amount of time.

How can you prevent lightning damage?

-          Inspect the grounding electrode system at the main service entrance and look for anything that may contribute to lightning damage

-        Make sure the bonding between the electrodes is effective. Or else a lightning surge will create an enormous voltage between them damaging the input/output printed circuit board within electronic equipment.

-          There have been instances where separately driven electrodes existing at equipment locations are damaged due to lightning

-          Lightning damage at input/output boards is an indication that transferred earth potential has developed between buildings

-          Lightning damage can occur at the AC input to electronic equipment

The protection of industrial sites from lightning damage has now become a common requirement.

Lightning damages equipment and affects production in two ways, either through direct strikes to the equipment or through the electrical surge that is produced within the power lines and ground that is  delivered to the equipment. Lightning Eliminators and Consultant Inc. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and patent holders of lightning and surge protection systems.