While lightning rods help protect a structure from a direct strike, a complete lightning protection system, including proper grounding, bonding, lightning dissipation and surge protection will help prevent harmful electrical surges and possible fires caused by lightning.
An effective lightning protection system includes the following five parts: dissipation systems, air terminals (lightning rods), conductors, ground connections (electrodes), bonding, and lightning arrestors.
Let us have a look at some of best lightning protection products available that form an integral part of a lightning protection system.
DAS prevents direct lightning strikes within the area of protection against lightning damage, including fires, destroyed electronics, and downtime. Engineered to integrate with any building, tower, tank, stack or other structure our DAS technology has been in use since 1971, protecting thousands of sites worldwide. Our “No-Strike” warranty ensures complete protection on all LEC supervised installations.
Streamer Delaying Air Terminal (SDAT)
The SDAT from Lightning Eliminators offers an inexpensive alternative to standard air terminals for new or existing lightning protection systems. Unlike traditional lightning rods which are designed only to collect strikes, the SDAT is designed to delay upward streamer generation, reduce the risk of direct strikes, and function as a highly efficient air terminal.
CONDUCTORS
Conductors are an integral component of a lightning protection system in that they carry the lightning discharge safely to the ground (by providing a low impedance path from the air termination system to the earth system).
GROUND CONNECTIONS (electrodes)
Standards for complete lightning protection systems are based on the principle of providing a direct or quasi-direct, low resistance, low impedance path for lightning current to follow safely to the earth. Achieving low impedance requires suitable handling of both the resistance and reactance (capacitance and inductance) of the system. Our patented lightning protection product is:
Chem-Rod
The Chem-Rod solves problems found with conventional ground rods by requiring less real estate and fewer electrodes to meet specified resistance. Each Chem-Rod creates an optimal electrical connection to earth with a large conductive surface. The earth/electrode interface is further enhanced by conductive backfill and electrolytic salts, ensuring a consistent path to ground.
BONDING
Equipotential bonding does not substitute conduits or service lines for the lightning protection system ground. Neither does it put these systems at any greater risk. Instead, it allows charges to be routed away from the systems via a common ground potential, which also reduces the risk of side-flash, arcing, and exposure of people to lethal touch potentials resulting from a lightning strike.
LIGHTNING ARRESTORS
These are electrical devices installed in or on a building’s electrical components and designed to protect electrical equipment from the electrical surge that occurs when lightning strikes a nearby power line. There are a variety of lightning protection products, such as:
FG-200/400
The Facility Guard surge protectors from Lightning Eliminators provide state-of-the-art protection for all your subpanel and service entrance applications (IEEE Class B & C).
LEC provides the best in class, patented lightning protection products and services in the market, built on US and International standards.