Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Lightning Protection
26th-30th November 2007 Foz do Iguau, Brazil
S. Person, A. Zeddam
1 INTRODUCTION
The access to telecommunication services by means of
wireless connections has increased intensively after the
introduction of mobile telephony. In order to provide an
adequate coverage to the service, it is often necessary to
install the antennas on the top of elevated structures. In
many occasions, the operator has to erect a tower to hold
the antennas, resulting in a large number of towers
protruding around, and actually changing the urban
landscape. In lightning-prone areas, those towers are
likely to be struck by lightning flashes, so that adequate
protection measures are needed in order to assure a
desired level of reliability to the service and, of course,
the safety of the personnel. The prescription of those
measures in a cost-effective approach has to take into
account the physical processes by which the return stroke
current spreads itself among the many conductors
available, including the tower's metallic components and
the telecommunication cables placed along the tower.
However, even in specialized communities, it is not
difficult to find controversies related to the modelling of
this process. Therefore, this paper is aimed to shed some
light on this subject, by presenting some results of
measurements carried out on a telecommunication tower
struck by rocket-triggered lightning.
Current (kA)
-2
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
Time (us)
Current (kA)
10
20
30
40
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
Time (us)
10
20
30
40
Current (A)
-100
-200
-300
-400
Time (us)
0
0
10
20
30
40
20
30
-100
Current (A)
-50
Current (A)
10
-100
-200
-300
-150
-400
-200
Time (us)
Time (us)
40
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
-1
-2
-3
-4
7 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
-5
-6
Time (us)
6 CONCLUSION
When a metallic telecommunication tower is struck by
lightning, most of the return stroke current flows through
the tower's metallic elements (legs and cross-arms), and
only a small fraction of the current flows through the
feeder cables. In the experiments carried out with a
standard radio base station complying with ITU-T Rec.56
[4], about 2% of the return stroke current flowed through
each feeder cable. This value is in agreement with the
theoretical value predicted by Rec.K.56, indicating that
the current distribution is governed by the inductances of
the conductors, instead of the resistances. The wave shape
of the feeder current is influenced by the front time of the
return stroke current, as a short front time (relative to the
tower's transit time) leads to a pronounced peak on the
feeder current, and this peak is almost absent in the case
of a long front time. Apparently, the variation of the
waveform of the feeder current is related to the reflections
of the stroke current at the extremities of the tower.
8 REFERENCES
[1] C. F. Barbosa, F. E. Nallin, S. Person, A. Zeddam, "The
effect
of
protection
procedures
applied
to
telecommunication lines on the lightning induced surges",
27th International Conference on Lightning Protection,
Versailles, 2004.
[2] C. F. Barbosa, F. E. Nallin, V. Cardinalli, N. Carnetta,
"Current distribution on power conductors of an installation
struck by rocket-triggered lightning", Proceedings of the
VIII International Symposium on Lightning Protection, pp.
82-86, So Paulo, Nov. 2005.
[3] C. F. Barbosa, F. E. Nallin, J. A. Rossi, J. Ribeiro, S. Person,
A. Zeddam, "Lightning induced surges on aerial
telecommunication lines with special reference to the effect
of earth resistivity", Proceedings of the VIII International
Symposium on Lightning Protection, pp. 71-75, So Paulo,
Nov. 2005.
[4] ITU-T Rec.K.56, "Protection of radio base stations against
lightning discharges", International Telecommunication
Union - ITU, Geneva, 2003.
[5] V. A. Rakov, "Rocket-triggered lightning experiments at
Camp Blanding, Florida", Proceedings of the V
International Symposium on Lightning Protection, pp. 373388, So Paulo, May 1999.
[6] V. A. Rakov, "Transient response of a tall object to
lightning", IEEE Trans. on Elec. Comp., pp.654-661,
Vol.43, N.4, Nov.2001.
[7] ETSI Guide EG 200 053, "Electromagnetic compatibility
and radio spectrum matters (ERM); Radio site engineering
for
radio
equipment
and
systems",
European
Telecommunications Standards Institute - ETSI, 2002.