Work Accident Prevention
The danger of lightning and the threat of lightning strikes continues to stalk us, our homes, offices and other buildings that are our assets, especially with the coming of the rainy season which is accompanied by storms. Have your assets been protected from the danger or threat of a lightning strike? If not and before it’s too late, immediately contact our Call Center at 022 87789603 / 0821 2226 2226 and 0822 4545 1919 for a free consultation and find the best Lightning solution or Lightning rod that can protect us and our assets. JAG Group already has thousands of works related to Lightning Protection Systems that are spread all over Indonesia.
One of the natural disturbances that often occurs is lightning strikes. Given Indonesia’s geographical location, which the equator passes through, Indonesia has a tropical climate, as a result, Indonesia has a very high average day of thunder per year. Thus, all buildings in Indonesia are at greater risk of being damaged due to being hit by lightning. The damage caused can endanger equipment and people in the building.
In addition to lightning being able to strike a building that has been equipped with anti-lightning or conventional lightning rods and anti-electrostatic lightning, lightning can also strike through the PLN electricity network whose cables are stretched outside and exposed. In general, open power grids like this are still in use in several countries, including Indonesia. Lightning currents that damage electrical panel devices are not caused by lightning strikes that strike directly into buildings that have lightning rods or anti-lightning installed, but rather lightning strikes hitting the PLN power grid so that these lightning currents enter the building following the power cables and damage the electrical panels.
So usually the danger of lightning or lightning strikes hitting something far from buildings that have installed lightning protection installations, both conventional lightning rods and electrostatic lightning rods, this is a common occurrence because PLN distribution cables use open distribution cables and are located high, such as those installed on the network. electric voltage.
For handling so that this event does not occur, it is very necessary that the electrical network in a building be equipped with a Surge Arrester device (over voltage release). There are many types and brands of Surge Arrester available on the general market, what is clear is that the installation of the surge arrester must be connected with grounding to earth.
Lightning Induction Mechanism
Induction mechanism because indirectly a lightning strike causes an increase in potential in electronic equipment, this occurs due to several factors below:
1. Resistive Clutch
When the surface of a building structure is hit by a lightning strike, the lightning current flowing into the ground generates a voltage that can reach thousands of volts between the 220 V supply voltage, the data network and the ground. This causes some of the current to flow in external conductors such as cables connected to buildings and continues towards grounding.
2. Inductive Coupling
Lightning current flowing in a conductor will produce a magnetic field. This magnetic field will be associated with other conductors, causing a voltage loop with a high enough voltage value.
3. Capacitive Clutch
Lightning channels near a lightning strike can cause a high capacitive field in the conducting equipment such as a very large capacitor with air as the electricity. In this way, high voltage increases in the cable even though the building structure is not directly hit.
Surge Arrester Listrik
Image Surge Arrester Listrik
Surge voltage is technically called a spike or transient, usually occurring in a building’s electrical network, namely in the form of a very fast voltage increase with a short wavelength. Surge voltage can be caused by lightning currents or by other things, for example switching (On – Of) contactors, circuit breakers or switching capacitors. This surge voltage can cause damage to electrical networks and electrical equipment because this surge voltage can penetrate insulation that is far beyond the limits of the equipment’s insulation capability or will provide a shock voltage to sensitive components in electronic devices.
Lightning Surge Voltage very often causes fatal damage because the spike voltage (Volts) is very high. The high spike voltage is caused by the occurrence of lightning strikes, either directly or indirectly on the electrical wiring in a building. By installing an Electric Lightning Arrester, this can be avoided.
Surge Arrester or commonly called Surge Arrester serves to deflect spike voltage by using a Metal Oxyde Vasitor (MOV) component or device. MOV components work on a similar working principle to nonpolar capacitors but without the storage of electric charge in the MOV. So if there is an input voltage that exceeds the MOV limit, this voltage will be discharged to grounding through one of the MOV poles. With the Surge Arrester working system, this device will provide protection for electronic equipment due to shock voltage or lightning induced.
Regarding the capacity of the lightning surge arrester device, the unit used is I (Ampere). The maximum current that can be turned to grounding is shortened to Imak (Maximum Ampere) in kA units. So the greater the Imak value, the greater the current that can be diverted to grounding. But the consequence is that Imak is inversely proportional to the sensitivity level of the surge arrester.
If the Imak is large, the voltage that can still enter/penetrate the electricity network is also large, as a simulation … “An electric surge arrester with Imak = 20kA then the voltage can still enter as much as 500 Volts … if it is increased to Imak = 40kA then the incoming voltage can become 600 Volts or greater.” That’s the simple picture.
The solution is to install a layered lightning electrical surge arrester, with the intention that if there is a voltage that successfully penetrates the stage I surge arrester, it will be blocked by the stage II surge arrester. With an easy overview as a breakwater on the beach. The installation of a layered surge arrester installation must of course be adjusted to the needs of the building and costs must be taken into account.
Image Solution with installation of a surge arrester
Lightning Protection System
1. Direct Lightning Strike Through a Building
A lightning strike that directly hits the structure of houses, offices and buildings, of course this is very dangerous for the building and its contents because it can cause a fire, damage to electrical or electronic devices or even fatalities. Therefore, every building is required to install a lightning rod or anti-lightning device. The way to deal with this is by installing a Lightning strike receiver terminal as well as other supporting installations that comply with predetermined standards. Moreover, if a lightning strike directly hits a human, it can result in injury or disability and can even cause death. There are many direct lightning strikes that hit humans and usually occur in open areas.
2. Lightning Strikes Through Electrical Networks
The danger of lightning strikes often occurs, lightning strikes and hits something outside the building area but has an impact on the electricity network inside the building, this is because the electricity distribution network/PLN system uses open air cables and is located very high, if there is lightning that strikes on it. this open cable then the lightning current will be channeled to the user directly. The way to handle this is by installing a surge arrester device as a protection against overvoltage. This electrical surge arrester installation must be equipped with a grounding system.
Safeguarding a building or object from a lightning strike in principle is to provide a means to deliver lightning currents that lead to the building that we are going to protect without going through a building structure that is not part of a lightning protection system or lightning rod installation, of course it must comply with installation standards the installation.
There are 2 types of damage caused by lightning strikes, namely:
- Thermal damage, damage that causes fire.
- Mechanical Damage, damage that causes building structures to crack, damage to electronic equipment and even causes death.
Lightning Strike Effect
1. Electrical Effect
When the lightning current passes through the cable (conductor) towards the earth electrode resistance of the lightning protection or anti-lightning installation, it will cause a resistive voltage drop, which can immediately increase the voltage of the protection system to a high value compared to the earth voltage. This lightning current also creates a high voltage gradient around the earth’s electrodes, which is very dangerous for living things. In the same way the inductance of the protection system must also be considered because of the steepness of the lightning pulse wavefront. Thus the voltage drop on the Lightning protection system is the arithmetic sum of the resistive and inductive voltage components.
2. Translucent Voltage Effects – Side
The point of a lightning strike on a lightning protection system can have a higher voltage towards metal elements nearby. Therefore, there will be a risk of breakdown voltage from the installed lightning protection system to other metal structures. If this breakdown voltage occurs then some of the lightning current will propagate through the internal parts of metal structures such as iron pipes and wires. This breakdown voltage can cause a very dangerous risk for the contents and framework of the building structure that will be protected.
3. Thermal Effect
In relation to the lightning protection system, the thermal effect of the lightning discharge is limited to the temperature rise of the conductor through which the lightning current flows. Even though the current is large, the time is very short and its effect on the Lightning Protection System is usually ignored. In general, the cross-sectional area of the conductors of the installation of lightning rods or anti-lightning is chosen mainly to meet the requirements for mechanical quality, which means it is large enough to limit the temperature rise to 1 degree Celsius
4. Mechanical Effects
If the lightning current passes through adjacent parallel cables (conductors) or on conductors with sharp bends, it will cause quite large mechanical forces, therefore a fairly strong mechanical bond is required. Another mechanical effect is caused by a lightning strike caused by a sudden increase in air temperature reaching 30,000 K and causing an explosion of air expansion around the path of the moving charge. This is because if the conductivity of the metal is replaced with the conductivity of an electric arc, the energy generated will increase approximately hundreds of times and this energy can cause damage to the protected building structure.
5. Fire Effect Due to Direct Strike
There are two main causes of flammable material fires due to a lightning strike, the first is due to a direct strike at the facility where flammable materials are stored. This flammable material may be directly affected by the heating effect of the strike or the path of the lightning strike. Both secondary effects, the main cause of oil fires. It consists of confined charges, electrostatic and electromagnetic pulses and ground currents.
6. Stuck Load Effect
This static charge is induced by cloud storms as the reverse of other loading processes. If the charge neutralization process ends and the strike path is neutral again, the trapped charge will be left on objects that are isolated from direct electrical contact with the earth, and on non-conducting materials such as flammable materials. Non-conducting materials cannot move charge in a short time when there is a strike path.
Another way to anticipate electrical disturbances is by installing a surge arrester as an internal lightning protection system. The electrical disturbances that frequently occur include:
1. Power Failures / Outages
Power Failure or Outages the main power source is off, in Indonesia one might say the lights are off or the PLN is off. The cause may be a short circuit or electrical connection, the power source is overloaded, the electrical equipment is damaged so that the PLN breaker or MCB goes down. Or it could also be caused by a natural disaster. This can cause damage to computer hardware or electronic equipment, loss of data, the computer system crashes.
2. Power SAG
That is, the electric voltage drops in a moment until it is below 80-85% of the normal voltage, if in Indonesia the normal voltage is 220 Volts. The cause is a fairly large startup load, usually caused by electronic equipment. We must have experienced that when we turn on the television or computer monitor, sometimes the light bulbs in our house go dim for a moment and then return to normal, that’s what is called SAG, aka a momentary voltage drop. Or it could also be caused by our electronic equipment being damaged, the electricity capacity in our house being smaller than needed. Electrical disturbances like this can cause damage to the computer system which has the possibility of a crash.
3. Power Surge / Spike
That is, the electric voltage rises in a moment up to above 110% of the normal voltage. In Indonesia the normal voltage is 220 Volts. While Spike is an event where the electric voltage rises so quickly in a moment that it can reach 5 KV-60KV. The cause is usually when we turn off a heavy load or it could also be that the electrical network is induced by lightning. This interference can cause damage to the hardware.
4. Under Voltage
Also known as Brown Out, occurs when the electricity voltage drops or decreases for a period of time, it can be minutes, up to days. The cause is excessive electricity load so that the power supply is reduced or there is a load during peak load for example at night. This can cause electrical or electronic equipment to be damaged.
5. Over Voltage
This is the opposite of under voltage, this incident can cause electrical or electronic equipment to become hot and quickly damaged.
6. Electrical Line Noise / Common Mode Disturbances
The electrical waves are disturbed so that the waveform is not clean but rather hairy. This occurs due to radio frequency interference, lightning strikes, neutral grounding in bad electrical installations, or it can be caused by electrical or electronic equipment that produces high frequencies. This can cause errors on the hard disk and damage to the computer’s hard ware.
7. Frequency Variation
Electricity has two terms, namely voltage or voltage and frequency. So this variation frequency is an electrical frequency that is always changing. Generally in Indonesia the electrical frequency is 50 Hz. This can cause data loss, system crashes and equipment damage.
8. Switching Transient
A sudden drop in voltage in the range of a few nanoseconds or nanoseconds. The time it occurs is shorter than a spike and only occurs a few nanoseconds. This disorder causes damage that is too fast or premature failure.
9. Harmonic Distortion
Distorted electric waves so that the electric waves are chaotic no longer sinusoidal. This can be caused by switching power supplies, electric motors such as water pumps, fax machines, copiers and others. This disturbance causes data communication for example on a LAN network to become an error, electrical or electronic equipment heats up quickly and damage to computer hardware.
Anti-Lightning Lightning Arrester
Humans have always tried to tame the ferocity of nature, one of which is the danger of being struck by lightning, the methods that have been developed regarding the lightning rod or anti-lightning industry in the world are:
1. Lightning Protection – Conventional Lightning Protection
The two scientists Faraday and Franklin explained a system that is almost the same, namely the lightning current distribution system that connects the top of the building and the grounding of the lightning rod, while the protection system that is produced at the end of the receiver or splitzer is the same in the range of 30-40 degrees. The difference is the system developed by Faraday that the conducting cables are on the outside of the building with the consideration that the conducting cables also function as material for receiving lightning strikes, namely in the form of an electric cage or commonly called a faraday cage.
2. Anti-Lightning – Radioactive Lightning Arrester
Research continues to develop about the causes of lightning, and all scientists agree that the occurrence of lightning is because there is an electric charge in the cloud originating from the ionization process, so to thwart the ionization process is done by using irradiating substances such as Radiun 226 and Ameresium 241 because these two materials are able to scatter ions radiation that can neutralize the cloud’s electric charge. So another benefit of the scattering of radiation ions will be to increase the charge at the finial or splitzer end, if a cloud with a large charge is unable to neutralize the radiation substance and then strikes it, it will tend to hit this lightning rod or anti-lightning. The existence of this type of lightning rod has been prohibited from being used, based on an international agreement with the consideration of reducing radiating substances in society, besides that this anti-lightning or lightning rod is considered to affect human health.
3. Anti-Lightning – Electrostatic Lightning Arrester
The working principle of an electrostatic lightning rod adopts some of the radio active lightning rod systems, namely adding a charge to the tip of the finial/splitzer so that lightning always chooses this tip to be struck. The difference with a radioactive system is the amount of energy used. For radio active lightning rods, the electric charge is produced from the scattering process of radiated substances, whereas in electrostatic lightning rods electrical energy is generated from cloud electricity that induces the earth’s surface.
