Lightning Protection

External Lightning Protection with ESE System.

Standards for lightning protection:
Active protection: NFC 17-102 Second Edition 2009 Passive protection: IEC 62305-3 Protection against lightning. Calculus of the protection Level (Active & Passive): IEC 62305-2 Risk management.
Since Benjamin Franklin was fascinated by storms and invented the simple lightning rod in 1752, many things have changed in lightning protection. The external protection against lightning it is a significant part of the Integral Protection designed to minimize lightning damages. The integral protection is divided in two parts: External Protection (Lightning rods). Internal protection (Surge arresters). The External protections advantages against lightning are numerous and include: Avoid damages in the structures and protect people outside the building. Avoid the destruction of devices by a direct strike. Avoid economic losses caused by stops as a result of direct strikes. A lightning strike is a high frequency current between 1 to 2 MHz that can reach up to 200 kA in a few microseconds. The consequences when there is not lightning protection are terrible for buildings, structures and even for the people.

PHOTO 1: INGESCO in the industrial sector

PHOTO 2: lightning strike in Australia

INGESCO group:
It has been the Spanish company leader in the lightning protection sector. Lightning protection projects. Design, manufacture and materials certification. Installation process management.

Since 73 working in LIGHTNING PROTECTION

INGESCO brand has been distinguished since 1973 for quality and leadership in design, manufacture and installation of lightning protection and prevention systems. Our manufacturing division relies on the reinforcement of the LABELEC Electro technical laboratory, which permit our R&D department to advance in the efficient of ESE lightning rods and prevention systems. The quality of our ESE lightning rods has been recognised by their corresponding product Certificates, granted by Bureau Veritas International. All the INGESCO products are submitted to strict qualiy checks before entering the market. This effort has been recognised with, already in 2004 ISO 9001:2000 certification, a guarantee of quality in the processes of our products and services.

PHOTO 3: INGESCO ESE lightning rods

What is an ESE (Early Streamer Emission System)?

One of the external lightning protection systems is the Early Streamer Emission (ESE), the objective of this technology as with the other lightning protection systems (simple Franklin and Faraday cage) is to guarantee the complete protection against direct strikes. An ESE air terminal is a lightning rod equipped with a system which creates the initiation advance of the upward leader when compared with a simple rod in the same conditions as is defined in the NF C 17-102 Standard. To create this initiation advance of time in the upward leader, we can find different technologies on the market. INGESCO as a manufacturer of ESE produces two of these technologies, one is electronic and other one is nonelectronic depending on the necessities of our customers. The name for the initiation advance is T and it is measured in High Voltage laboratories accredited for this test. The result is expressed in time (s). Then, with this value we can use the protection radius formula (NF C 17-102 Standard Appendix A) and calculate the coverage area for our ESE air terminal. There is a range of models of ESE air terminal that permits us to choose the right model for each building according to their characteristics.

PHOTO 4: HIGH VOLTAGE TEST FOR THE INGESCO ESE (1MV)

All the INGESCO ESE lightning rods are tested in High Voltage Laboratories according to the different Lightning Protection Standards. In the above photo you can see the test for the protection radii (T test) according to the NF C 17-102 Standard.

Differences between Franklin rods and ESE system

There are many differences when we compare these two systems; maybe the most important is the protection volume. With a simple rod the protection volume is a protection cone with an angle of 45 or less, depending on the protection Level according to the IEC 62305-3 Standard. With an ESE air terminal the protection volume is higher as you can see shown in photo 4, and it depends on the ESE model. The advantages of ESE systems in front of the passive systems are numerous, for example: With the ESE it is possible to protect the structures, the buildings, the open areas and even the people against direct strikes. The ESE system is so easy to install and therefore it is cheaper. Due to its big protection, with an ESE air terminal it is possible to protect up to 80m radius in the Level I (T=60s and efficacy of the protection 98%). For the installation of an ESE system fewer materials are needed than for a Faraday cage and simple Franklin rods and consequently less labor is required. For this reason INGESCO recommends the external lightning protection using the different Early Streamer Emission models for most buildings. In our website www.ingesco.com there is a Software Design at your total disposal for the calculus of the ESE lightning rod that your building requires.

PHOTO 5: PROTECTION VOLUME WITH AN ESE AIR TERMINAL

To draw the protection radii first we must know the protection level of our building (IEC 62305-2 Standard) and then calculate the different radii for the different heights following the formula for the protection radius (NF C 17-102 SECOND EDITION STANDARD

Second Edition of the NF C 17- 102 Standard

In January 2009 was published the Second edition of the NF C 17-102 Standard (Structures and open areas protection against lightning strikes using E.S.E air terminals). The idea of this new edition standard is to do the lightning protection with an ESE air terminal in a similar way like the Franklin rods and Faraday Cage do, following some of the guidelines of the IEC 62305-3 Standard (Lightning protection - Physical damage to structures and life hazard). The most significant changes are: The use of 2 down conductors always. The maximum T permitted for an ESE air terminal is 60s. There are 4 protection levels. The use of the IEC 62305-2 for the calculus of the Protection Level. To protect the buildings higher than 60m 4 down conductors are necessary from the top of the building to the grounding system. Some points replaced in NF C 17-102 by others from the IEC 62305-3 Standard. Complement the measures to protect the people with the protection measures against touch and step voltage due to a lightning strikes.

APPENDIX A).

Sources: NF C 17-102 SECOND EDITION STANDARD. IEC 62305-2 STANDARD. IEC 62305-3 STANDARD. INGESCO Lightning products catalogue.