30th International Conference on Lightning Protection - ICLP 2010

(Cagliari, Italy - September 13th -17th, 2010)

LIGHTNING LEAD-IN CHANNELS AND SPD SELECTION

FOR RADIO BASE STATION
Liu Jike1 Lin Yongshuang2 Meng Qi3 Chen Qiang1 Yuan Qiangong2 Wang Zhigang1 Qi Zheng1
Email: liujike@dimpt.com, linyongshuang@jm.gd.chinamobile.com,mqi@emersonnetwork.com.cn,
chenqiang63@chinaunicom.cn, wangzg200@chinaunicom.cn, qizheng5@chinaunicom.cn

RBSs, type of the building, and power supply mode, etc.

ABSTRACT
This paper discusses four lightning lead-in channels of the 2 LIGHTNING LEAD-IN CHANNELS
RBS(Radio Base Station), analyzes the influence of these
channels on RBS and proposes solutions; quadratic Lightning can affect the normal work of RBS
counterattack-effect is proposed according to the earth through four interfaces of the RBS telecommunications
potential rise on the grounding grid caused by the equipment, as shown in Figure 1:
lightning strike on iron tower and the lightning current’s
flowing to earth; this lightning model is different from
lightning current distribution model in IEC lightning
standard. In addition, according to the theoretical analysis
and abundant experiences of China Mobile RBSs’ large
usage of voltage limiting type SPD(Surge Protective
Devices), it is proved that the voltage limiting type SPD
can protect equipment in the telecom room no matter in
Guangdong（South China） which has 120 thunderstorm
days or in RBSs under the severest environment.
Key Words: RBS Earth Potential Rise Quadratic
Counter Voltage-limiting Type SPD

1 INTRODUCTION
The key to solve RBS’s lightning damage is to clarify
the incoming channels of lightning. China is the
country with the most RBSs in the world and it also has
the most extensive thunderstorm days. In Guangdong
Province alone, the number of thunderstorm days is
more than 70 and even up to 120. The number of RBS
in Guangdong Province is nearly 100,000, so its
experience of lighting protection is representative. For
years, there is a controversy over the usage of voltage
switching type SPD and voltage limiting type SPD in
different countries. Telecommunications Industry
Standards of PRC YD5098-2005, i.e. Design
Specifications of Lightning Protection and Earthing for
Telecommunications Bureau (Station) stipulates that
RBSs must use voltage limiting type SPD; as the first
level SPD at the power port of RBS, voltage limiting
type SPD has been used in China for years and has been
applied in tens of thousands of RBSs. The practical
experience shows that voltage limiting type SPD can
meet the needs of lightning protection of the RBS.
Moreover, the surge rating of voltage limiting type
SPD should be chosen according to the intensity of the
lightning, category of RBSs, geographic location of the
Figure 1: Lightning influence on 4 interfaces of RBS
telecommunications equipment
2.1 Power port
In terms of the lightning damage rate, power type
equipment accounts for about 90% (including
transformer, distribution box, AVR, rectifier module,
air conditioning board, lighting system, etc.). These
equipments supplied by power line are more likely to be
influenced by lightning surge; in the lightning strike,
the insulation and internal components of the equipment
are broken down as the result of the earth potential rise
or surge between equipment brought by lightning
magnetic field. Power port is always the key point of
lightning protection; statistical data of China[5]
demonstrates that more than 90% of equipment
lightning damages are related to power port. Well-
known power supply manufacturers in the world also
have such experience.

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2.2 Signal / Control port
The RBS adopts environmental monitoring devices
to achieve unattended system and there are signal wires
connected with the transmission equipment and RBS
transmitter, etc., when signaling equipments, such as
CPU, user board, E1 port, microwave transmission
interface, environmental monitoring, transducer, fire
control panel, mini microwave and so on, are struck by
the lightning surge, the surges are conducted to other
equipments through the interconnected signal/control
wires, which will present safety hazard to other
equipment.
2.3 Antenna port / power transmission port
2.3.1 Antenna port:
In the past, people thought antenna was the main
channel to lead the lightning current to the RBS;
however, theoretical analysis and calculations[5] show
that antenna ports are not the key channel of the
incoming lightning current, the reasons are listed below:
• Under the protection of air termination system, the
antenna feeder is in LPZ0B zone where only the
induction effects exist;
• It shows from the analysis of the antenna theory
that as the cable conductor and armor of antenna
are normally conductive in the low frequencies
and they are non-conductive just in high
frequencies; for lightning band, the cable
conductor and armor are relatively earthing;
• The lightning damage examples of antenna system
in the RBS are rare; calculation results and
practical application show that: lightning surge
from antenna port normally won’t exceed the
protection level of RBS ports.
2.3.2 The differences between various types of
distribution RBSs and traditional RBS are
RRU (radio remote unit) systems of the former:
RRU systems include DC, controlling, signal, GPS,
microwave, optical transmission equipment, etc.; the
transmission mediums it adopts are RF cable, control
wires, DC feeder, intermediate frequency cable, optical
fiber cable, etc. These RRU systems expose to the
external environment and their transmission mediums
are in LPZOB zone (These transmission mediums adopt
the form of coaxial cable or combined cable except for
optical fiber cable, actually, they are within the critical
section between LPZOB and LPZ1), so the possibility of
introducing the incoming lightning current increases.
If the RRU system adopts optical fiber cables for
remote transmission, when the RRU system is struck by
the lightning, the equipment directly connected with the
RRU maybe damaged, including DC RRU system, GPS
and microwave equipment;
If the RRU system adopts RF cables for remote
transmission, when the RRU system is struck by the
lightning, the equipment directly connected with the
RRU maybe damaged, including DC RRU system,
control RRU system, RF RRU system, MF RRU
system , GPS and microwave equipment ports, etc;
If the RRU system adopts intermediate frequency
cables, when the RRU system is struck by the lightning,
the equipment directly connected with the RRU maybe
damaged, including DC RRU system, control RRU
system, GPS and microwave equipment ports.
2.4 Earthing port
The main influence of the earthing ports is the
instantaneous potential rise to the equipment. When
lightning surge discharges through the grounding grid,
the earth potential will rise sharply in a short time and
thus the transient potential difference between the
positive and the negative electrodes of the DC power
supply becomes very high, which may damage the
sensitive components of the equipment (such as rectifier
modules and transceivers). As the earth potential rise
sometimes will damage the equipment from the front
(DC output port of switching power supply), or from
the bottom (DC input port powered devices as GSM),
we should install SPDs on both ends of the DC power
supply to form transient equipotential between the
positive and negative electrodes of DC power supply
and the earth. Prevent the striking-back potential caused
by the rise of the ground potential from damaging the
equipment. In the regions with many thunderstorm days
or large lightning intensity, especially for the RBSs
with iron tower, we should provide lightning protection
measures in the DC-ended output side of switching
power supply.
3 SELECTION OF CLASS I SPD OF
POWER PORT
3.1 Adaptability of IEC standards and
recommendations in various industries
3.1.1 The adaptability of standards and
recommendations of IEC are not the same to
all fields. Therefore, it is inappropriate for the
RBS to select SPD directly according to
IEC61643-1[1] and IEC61643-12[2].
IEC61643-1 mainly explains “technical requirements
and test methods for low-voltage SPD”. All the other
IEC documents and recommendations, including
IEC62305, are fundamental standards. The SPD for
RBS should be selected according to the division of the
lightning active area, category of RBS, geographic
environment of the RBS, type of the building, power
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supply mode, and the voltage stability on the site, for
the environmental factors and conditions of the RBS are
usually very special, and can not be fully covered by the
fundamental standards, it also relates to the matching of
different class SPDs, so not all type of SPD can solve
some particular problems of lightning protection.
Different fields are facing with different lightning
protection problems. The IEC lightning protection
standards that primarily take building into consideration
are not applicable to electric power, petrochemicals,
railway or RBS! IEC recommendations can’t meet the
environmental characteristics of every field. These
recommendations can only be adaptable to the ordinary
buildings environment. Each type of SPD has its own
adaptable environment and installation mode, and
insecurity factors of the RBS may be caused if the
IEC61643-1 and IEC61643-12 are adapted directly to
them. Therefore, the way of selecting the SPD based on
the IEC standards, which is simply proposed in ITU K
56, is inappropriate.
3.1.2 The distribution mode of the lightning current
assumed in IEC61312 [3] exists problems.
Lightning current distribution mode described in
IEC61312: When the direct lightning striking on the air
termination system of the building, 50% of the lightning
current among various facilities of the building flows to
the ground along the down conductor, and the
remaining 50% flows out along the pipelines between
the building and the outside. However, if the power
distribution cable of the RBS adopts sheathed buried
power cable, the lightning current that falls on the air
termination system on the roof of the building doesn’t
fulfill that assumed condition. In this case, the lightning
current flows to the ground through the external down
conductor, and flows into the earth ground through
metal jacket of the buried cable. Actually, traditional
lightning current distribution mode is controversial; the
lightning current added on the protected equipment is
caused by the lightning voltages that created by the
quadratic counterattack of the earthing resistances.
3.1.3 Lightning added on the protected equipment is
caused by the lightning voltages created by the
quadratic counterattack
When direct lightning strikes the air termination of
the tower, the lightning current flows to grounding grid
through the tower and is discharged through the smooth
channel provided by the ground grid; the maximum
current can be up to 200 kA, and creates tens of
thousands or even millions of volts of earth potential
rise in the RBS’s grounding grid. We suppose that the
described direct lightning has a current wave of
10/350μS, and when it flows through the tower, the
10/350μS wave changes because of the inductance
reactance of the tower components, and when it flows
into the earth, the waveform of lightning current
changes again.
As the current flows into the earth, the 10/350μS
lightning current waveform of the original direct
lightning changes due to the inductance reactance of the
tower and the inductance and capacitance of the
earthing electrode. The changed lightning current and
the resistance of earthing devices generate earth
potential rise to the infinity points, namely, striking-
back earth potential, belonging to the quadratic effects
of lightning. Whether the outgoing high potential or the
incoming low potential, earth potential rise on the wire
generated while the lightning current flows through the
tower create ultimately tens of thousands volts or even
millions of volts of common mode voltage. Earth
potential rise of grounding grid impacts on the RBS
outgoing wires by means of resistive coupling, which
has nothing to do with the lightning current waveform
that flows into the earth through tower while lightning
strike, namely, irrelevant to the 10/350μS waveform
that has been under endless discussion. Therefore, the
ground voltage or ground-to-line voltage on the
outgoing wire can be described by 1.2/50μS simulated
lightning voltage waves. The 1.2/50μS simulated
lightning voltage waves are corresponding to 8/20μS
simulated lightning current waves. So the class I SPD is
acceptable as long as it can withstand the 8/20μS
current.
In terms of the lightning current led in along the
outgoing lines, no matter what form the lightning may
be, for example, whether the direct lightning strikes on
the distribution lines, or the lightning impacts on the
RBS’s equipment by way of electromagnetic fields, or
the lightning current flows in along the incoming power
lines and optical fiber cables, the direct lightning can
not strike on the power distribution lines near the RBS,
which is in the protection area of the tower, especially
in the case of the shielded and buried cables adopted for
the RBS distribution lines; according to the lightning
protection zone concept, it is in the LPZ0B~LPZ1 zone,
so the lightning wave should be the 8/20μS waveform
rather than the 10/350μS. Therefore, at this point, the
8/20μS waveform should be used to describe the
lightning wave on SPD.
3.2 Voltage switching type SPD does not conform
to the conditions of RBS application.
SPD recommended for RBS by the
Telecommunications Industry Standards of People’s
Republic of China YD/T5098-2005, i.e. Design
Specifications of Lightning Protection and Earthing for
Telecommunications Bureau (Station) is of voltage
limiting type SPD, which has been widely adopted and
verified in China for many years.
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 In Guangdong Province alone, tens of thousands of
RBSs have used the voltage limiting type SPD since
2000. Generally, the voltage limiting type SPD of 3+1
mode (80~120kA and 8/20μS, Class I ,or type 1 or
Class B) is adopted at the RBS distribution box, and the
Class II (type 2, or Class C) SPD is already installed
inside the power supply equipment. After ten years’
verification, voltage limiting type SPD of 3+1 mode
with the maximum discharge current mentioned above
can solve the lightning damage problems well. Statistics
show that: the SPD of the voltage limiting type SPD of
3+1 mode nearly has little record of lightning damage.
The number of thunderstorm days in Guangdong, which
is one of the regions with the strongest thunderstorms in
the world, is up to 70~120 days in a year; but the SPD
can serve properly in such severe environments.
Therefore, voltage limiting type SPD of 3+1 mode with
the highest current rating ( 60~100kA, 8/20μS), as the
Class I SPD of power supply, is enough for applications
in the region with the severest thunderstorm in China.
Moreover, the environment for RBS in Guangdong is
probably the severest, which is incomparable with other
international or domestic environments or buildings in
cities. It reveals that the relevant IEC recommendation,
which explains the Class I lightning test current is
10/350μs based on the evidence that the voltage
switching type SPD can adapt to the 10/350μS lightning
current, is wrong. It is improper to propose to adopt the
voltage switching type SPD in any circumstance.
Application cases indicate that IEC analyze SPD by
adopting lighting current analysis mode isn’t in
accordance with actual situation. Field experience
shows the following facts:
• The lightning current may damage the lightning-
sensitive components in the equipment if the RBS
only has voltage switching type SPD and has no
other SPDs for Class II (type 2 or Class C)
protection, for the voltage switching type SPD’s
respond time to lightning is relatively long.
• When the RBS adopts two-stage protections, if
Class I SPD is voltage switching type, all the
lightning current may flow through the Class II
voltage limiting protector, and cause the Class II
protection devices’ damage, because the voltage
switching type SPD is slow to respond to the
lightning.
• Blind spot may exist in energy coordination
between voltage switching type SPD and voltage
limiting type SPD, due to the gas discharge
characteristic of voltage switching type SPD. This
may make the voltage switching type SPD out of
service, and the Class II SPD needs to handle high
lightning current; therefore, the Class II SPD may
be damaged by lightning (as been limited by
RBS’s area, the decoupling distance of the two
levels of SPDs is not easily fulfilled). Therefore,
the Class I voltage switching type SPD cannot
match with the Class II SPD effectively.
• Some companies may use serial inductors to form
a de-coupler between two levels of protection and
therefore solve the problem of protection distance
between two levels of SPDs. Blind spot or
reflection problem for coordination between the
two levels may also exist. It introduces like this:
“taking the inductance as a decoupling component
is closely related to waveform. For the waveform
of long semi-value time (e.g., 10/350μS), the
inductance decoupling is not very effective (the
voltage switching type SPD plus an inductance
cannot meet the requirement for protecting
different lightning spectrums when there is
lightning). When taking the inductance as a
decoupling component, it is necessary to take the
surge voltage rise time and peak value into
account.” Even if the inductance is added, the
issue of the voltage switching type SPD residual
voltage which is normally up to 4000V can not be
solved as well. And the on-site operation indicates
that: After the voltage switching type SPD is
connected with an inductor in serial, there are
many lightning damage records of Class II 40kA
module SPD installed in the power supply
equipment.
• Both the di/dt and the du/dt value are very high
when the voltage switching type SPD operating,,
which will obviously affects the semiconductor
components inside the protected equipment.
• The voltage switching type SPD has no function of
indicating deterioration, it can not achieve the
functions of alarming upon damage or tele-
signaling the fault (available function currently is
just to indicate the working status of the auxiliary
circuit through the LED, and this doesn’t reflect
the deterioration or damage status of the gap
electrode). Therefore, in the unattended RBS, the
voltage switching type SPD can not be used
effectively.
In sum, from parameters, indexes and functional
factors of residual voltage, decoupling distance,
response time, lack damage alarming and lack fault
tele-signaling, the application of using voltage
switching type SPD in RBS will endanger the safe
operation of the telecommunications system.
3.3 Voltage limiting type SPD is recommended to
be used in RBS.
The di/dt and du/dt value of the voltage limiting type
SPD are much less than those of the voltage switching
type SPD, which is helpful for protecting the safety of
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the protected equipment. Selecting the voltage limiting
type SPD properly can solve the problem of follow
current extinguishing. The voltage limiting type SPD
can achieve the function of deterioration indicating and
remote signaling for faults, which is helpful for
implementing unattended RBS.
The selection of the maximum discharge current
value of the SPD is always the issue that attracts much
attention of the lightning protection designers.
According to the introduction of relevant documents:
“Under the test condition with the same simulated
lightning current of 8/20μS and 10kA, the service life of
MOV component with the maximum discharge current
of 135kA is 1000-2000 times, and that of MOV
component with the maximum discharge current of
40kA is 50 times, the lives of these MOVs are dozens
apart from each other”. Since RBSs are frequently
struck by lightning; therefore, the service life of the
SPD must be considered. If the selected maximum
discharge current is too low, the SPD will be
deteriorated quickly and need to be replaced frequently;
if the selected maximum discharge current is high, it
will cause unnecessary waste. Therefore, the selection
of the SPD must be considered according to the specific
situation from perspective of technology and cost-
effectiveness. And the redundancy of the maximum
discharge current of the voltage limiting type SPD
should be considered.
The surge rating selection of SPD should be done
according to the environmental factors and direct
related factors (including intensity of the lightning,
classification of telecommunications station, geographic
environment of the telecommunications station, type of
the building, power supply mode, etc.) and to the
technical and cost-effective factors. It is recommended
to use voltage limiting type SPD (testing waveform of
8/20μs) in Class I (Class B) of the RBS, and categorize
the SPDs into urban type, suburban type and mountain
type. The maximum continuous operating voltage of the
SPD should be chosen according to the nominal voltage
and the voltage fluctuation status in each country.
Generally, in the region where the supply voltage is
220V the maximum continuous operating voltage of
320-385V is recommended. The classification of SPD
in China telecom standard is shown below
• Urban type: Located in downtown area, public
building, computer equipment room, buildings
need no direct lightning protection, areas where
the thunderstorm days belong to medium level
lightning area (26~40 days/year).
The maximum discharge current of power
supply SPD: L-G, L-N and N-G must meet these
conditions: nominal discharge current ≥
25KA/line, maximum discharge current ≥
60KA/line.
• Suburban type: Located in equipment room on the
roof of the isolated high-rise building in the city;
RBS in the suburban area, residential house,
beside the pool and the RBS without exclusive
distribution transformer, and the areas with the
number of thunderstorms days belong to frequent-
lightning area(40~90 days/year):
The maximum discharge current of power
supply SPD: L-G, L-N and N-G must meet these
conditions: nominal discharge current ≥
35KA/line, maximum discharge current ≥
80KA/line.
• Mountain type: Located in equipment rooms with
lead-in overhead power line in medium-thunder
areas(26~40 days/year); these rooms may located
on the hills, by the roads, in the farmer house, or in
the farm fields, which are easily hit by lightning;
The maximum discharge current of power
supply SPD: L-G, L-N and N-G must meet these
conditions: nominal discharge current ≥
40KA/line, maximum discharge current ≥
100KA/line.
3.4 Installation mode of the SPD for TT power
system
Like in many other countries, RBSs in China
generally adopt the TT power system. The installation
mode of the SPD will not affect the safety problem
when the RBS adopting the TN system. The power
system of the RBS can adopt the voltage limiting type
SPD which is 4-mode, 7-mode or 9-mode SPD. The
selection of the SPD needs only to consider the
maximum discharge current of SPD besides the
maximum continuous operating voltage. But, for the TT
system application, the installation mode of SPD will
present safe and fire hazard..
3.4.1 Reasons for fire accident of SPD in the TT
power system and relevant solutions[4]
For the TT power system, if the SPD adopts four-
wire to ground mode, as shown in Figure 2 i.e., the
same SPD is used across A-PE, B-PE, C-PE and N-PE,
when the SPD failing for certain reasons, the high
circuit resistance due to grounding resistance will cause
the short circuit current not high enough to blow the
fuse or MCB, and the SPD may catch fire, and even
burn the frame, cabinet and equipment room.
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Equipment
Protected
Figure 2: Circuit diagram of protection mode of four-wire to
ground installation adopted by the SPD in the TT power
supply mode
For the power supply loops A, B and C, the SPD of
each phase to ground has the equivalent circuit in
Figure 3:
Figure 3: Equivalent circuit diagram of each phase-to-ground
of power supply loops A, B and C
3.4.2 Solution to prevent SPD fire in TT power
system
It is recommended that the RBS SPD should adopt
the protection circuit of the “3+1” installation mode.
This protection mode is also recommended by IEC
standard: For the TT system, adopts “ 3+1” mode
means that connects 3 MOV modules among A/N, B/N
and C/N, and connects one gas discharge tube module
between N and PE, as shown in Figure 4:
Equipment
Protected
Figure 4: Circuit diagram of protection mode for “3+1”
installation adopted by SPD
After adopting this circuit, the MOV modules are
installed between line and neutral. Since the loop
resistance is low, so once short-circuit failure occurs,
the over current protection device will operate to avoid
fire.
Although there is a gas discharge component in such
circuit, there is no problem like distributed actions, arc
elimination and slow response speed; and full-mode
protection can be implemented, because it is located
between N and PE. Therefore, it is applicable to various
grounding modes.
4 CONCLUSION
We should clarify the main lead-in channels and find
out solutions for lightning protection according to the
incidence on four interfaces of the telecommunications
equipment in RBS caused by lightning; we should also
clarify proper modes of the effect on RBS of lightning
according to effects on RBS of the quadratic counter
voltages, so as to avoid causing wrong selection of SPD
because of adopting wrong lightning modes.
5 REFERENCES
[1] IEC 61643-1 (2005), Low-voltage surge protective devices
- Part 1: Surge protective devices connected to low-
voltage power distribution systems - Requirements and
tests.
[2] IEC 61643-12 (2008), Low-voltage surge protective
devices - Part 12: Surge protective devices connected to
low-voltage power distribution systems - Selection and
application principles.
[3] IEC 61312-1：1995，Protection against lightning
electromagnetic impulse--Part 1:General principles.
[4] Liu Jike, Chen QIang, Li Meng, “ The Choice of Power
SPD of RBS and Recommendation for ITU K56”,
Supplement of Designing Techniques of Posts and
Telecommunications, China Lightning Ablum pp.145 –
148, February 2007.
[5] YD/T5098-2005 Specifications of Engineering Design for
Lightning Protection and Earthing Design for
Telecommunication Bureaus(Stations).
Note:
1 China Information Technology Designing & Consulting
Institute(China Unicom).
2 China Guangdong Mobile Communication Co., Ltd.
Jiangmen Branch.
3 Emerson Network Power Ltd. (China)
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