Several
PREVECTRON®2 models: a wide range of protection areas
The
accuracy with which ∆T can be controlled has allowed to create
several models of lightning conductors with various ∆T values,
ensuring protection areas that are more or less wide. Thus, we can
choose the right PREVECTRON®2
lightning conductor for each project and provide customized
solutions.
The
six-model range ensures wide flexibility in installing a lightning
protection system with PREVECTRON®2.
Benefits
The
skill of INDELEC’s reasearchers and engineers, the wide knowledge
about lightning phenomenology, the results of numerous tests carried
out both in high-voltage laboratories and under real lighting test
conditions, the experience gathered from the tens of thousands of
PREVECTRON®2
systems installed around the world, have allowed the development of a
full range of lightning conductors that provide an entire set of
benefits:
- remarkable precision ensured by the electronic
triggering device
- a six-model range that ensures wide
flexibility in designing an appropriate PREVECTRON®2
system, offering customized solutions for each project (required
protection area, aesthetic constraints, economic restrictions,
etc.)
- operation is fully autonomous for all possible types of
lightning strikes
- the lightning conductor only becomes active
when the electric field suddenly increases (right before the
lightning discharge), and is passive the rest of the time
- full
electrical continuity between the tip and the earthing.
-
reliability even under extreme weather conditions (tropical rain,
frost, etc.)
- robust design, able to withstand multiple lightning
strikes (during the tests carried out in Nadachi, Japan, a
PREVECTRON®2
was able to capture a number of lightning discharges, with
intensities over 100kA)
- quality assurance according to the ISO
9001 – 2000 standard
- mounting accessories designed by
INDELEC, enabling an easy and safe mounting
- software to
determine the protection level and to simulate the protection area.
Protection
area
The
protection area Rp of a PREVECTRON®2 lightning conductor can be
determined according to the formula in the I20-2000 standard:
The
protection area depends on the parameters:
- the gain in triggering time ∆T
specific to each type of the PREVECTRON®2 lightning conductor, which
allows to determine the ∆L using the formula: ∆L(m)=106 x ?T(μs).
- D = 20,
30, 45 or 60 m corresponding to the protection level I, II, III or IV
determined according to the lightning risk assessment guide.
-
the actual height of the lightning conductor above the surface to be
protected: h (for h<5m please see the tables).
Testing
in real lightning conditions: performance
validation
In
an unprecedented manner, INDELEC has and is
still testing the PREVECTRON®2 lightning conductor in real lighting
test conditions, in order to determine the agreement between the
results of the high-voltage testings and the on-site behaviour.
Coordination of these studies was entrusted to France’s Atomic
Energy Commission (CEA), which invented the triggering of lightning
discharges.
The
first tests were carried out in 1993 in Florida and France. At
present, there are tests being conducted on two sites: Brazil and
Japan.
The
testing campaign in Cachoeira Paulista located in Sao Paulo state of
Brazil has been going on since 1998, in partnership with INPE
(Brazil’s National for Institute Space Research) and in cooperation
with the Toulouse University, Hydro-Quebec Canada, Campinas & San
Jose Dos Campos University of Brazil, France Telecom and its
Brazilian counterpart, Telebras. The Nadachi campaign is taking place
in cooperation with C.L.P. Inc., Japan.
The
purpose of the tests conducted in the various locations was:
- to validate the operating principle of
PREVECTRON®2 (the upward leader is triggered depending on the spped
of the electric field increase ΔV/ ΔT)
- to compare the events
happening upon discharge, between the single rod and the
PREVECTRON®2
- to measure the current generated by the upward
leader in the single rod and in the PREVECTRON®2
- to assess the
reliability of the PREVECTRON®2 when subjected to real lightning
discharges
- to prove the reliability of the PREVECTRON®2 in a
wide range of typical situations, including upward lightning strikes,
extreme weather conditions (frost, tropical rain).
All
the testing campaigns have proved the effectiveness of the
PREVECTRON®2 protection system, and have demonstrated a good
correlation between the results obtained and the theoretical model.
The data collected shows that the PREVECTRON®2 has a robust build
and is able to withstand multiple lightning strikes of high
intensity: the mean intensity measured in the “triggered” strikes
was of 27kA (compared to just 13.5kA obtained in Florida), with an
average of six return strikes (greater than 3kA). |
