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Lightning Protection Design - Basics
Lightning Protection Design - Basics
Design 6 14 Bringelly Road Kingswood, Australia NSW, 2747 ACN: 132586675 Management Construction www.NeecGroup.com Info@neecgroup.com Phone: 0415 77 55 75 ABN: 86132586675
(1)
Love
S = 10 I 0.65
(2)
Whitehead
2
S = 9.4 I 3
(3)
IEEE
S = 8I 0.65
(4)
Suzuki
S = 3.3I 0.78
(5)
Where
Many leading lightning investigators such as J. G Anderson and Mousa [2] support the usage of IEEE equation. This study will use the IEEE equation. There are two common methods to approach the lightning design: the fixed angle the rolling sphere, This paper will discuss the rolling sphere method design. In this method the value of the lightning direct strike current will determine the radius of the circle. Many countries including Australia set in their standards the level of protection based on the level the stroke current, table I shows the four level of protection in Australia and its relevant sphere radius and stroke current.
TABLE I.
Protection Level 1 2 3 4
To determine what level of protection is needed it is recommended to liaise with the local Meteorology Bureau to determine the probability level of lighting in the desired area. If this information is not available it is recommend to use protection level one in the design. The idea behind mast is to find a low resistive path for the lightning to discharge into the ground. The ground resistivity should be less than 10 ohms for the lightning system according to many standards such as IEEE and AS/NZS. This resistivity will by the soil resistivity value and the type of grid used.
III. ROLLING SPHERE Rolling sphere is one of the most used methods of lightning protection. The rolling sphere method can use one or multiple mast to protect the house.
A.
Single mast protection Figure 1 shows the proposed method of using single mast to protect an object; the circle shows the rolling sphere of the lightning strike.
Figure 1.
2 2 H = a a2 a (a d ) + T
(6)
Where a: the radius of the sphere d: the heights of the protected object T: the distance between the mast and the far corner of the protected object Knowing the dimension of the house and the location of the mast, equation 8 is used to determine the heights of the required mast.
B.
Double masts protection Sometimes using one mast to protect the house required a very high mast. Reduction of the height is possible by using two masts to protect the house. Figure 2 shows the method of protection using 2 masts: Where: a: the radius of the sphere d: the heights of the protected object M: the distance between the two masts Note that this formula (7) will only protect a thin object like a Bus-Bar and will not provide protection for a cubical object like house. More information will be shown in the case study section.
Figure 2.
M H = a + d a2 2
C.
(7)
Three masts protection Using three masts to protect the house will lead to further decrease in the height of masts. Figure 3 shows the three masts protections, this will be ideal to protect the house and it doesnt required high masts to complete the design.
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.
Management
R=
(8)
M should not be greater than 1.7 a Four masts protection Using four masts as shown in figure 4 to protect the house is possible and the height can be calculated using equation 9:
D.
H = a + d a 2 0.25 L2 + G 2
(9)
Figure 4.