The frequency of thunderstorms in some areas of permafrost is not so much different from that typical for the central Russia. Little is known about the latitudinal change in lightning current parameters. According to the most recent data, such dependence should be ignored, assuming that lightning current statistics in Nigeria and Yakutia are comparable. The same has to be allowed for the lightning orientation process. Only in permafrost soils is it difficult to ensure a low grounding resistance for the lightning rod, but all known studies show that grounding resistance has little effect on lightning rod efficiency. Nevertheless, in areas with high ground resistivity, it is recommended to operate power lines without their protection by lightning cables. At the same time, no one doubts the effectiveness of lightning rods, but their protective effect is negated by a very high voltage on the grounding resistance of the masts. The reverse overlap of the phase isolation occurs, disconnecting the line. The question of grounding resistance becomes the most important. Even with the use of chemically active grounding electrodes, it is frequently not possible to meet the current regulations' requirements for grounding resistance in permafrost regions. As a result, it is impossible to guarantee electrical safety in the vicinity of lightning current propagation and lower overvoltages in underground utilities to a level that is acceptable Even if not every issue has a technological answer at this time, we should concentrate on those that do.
has passed on 11.09.19
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
The hardest thing for a speaker to do during a webinar is to respond to audience queries. The questions vary in subject matter and are rarely linked to each other. To bring the story's ideologies together, a cogent connection is very difficult to discover.
The planned webinar "Answers to the questions of designers of lightning protection and grounding" on September 11 is a welcome exception. There are at least two key issues. The first describes how a strong electric field forms near ground structures during a lightning storm and discusses how this field affects lightning discharge. In fact, we are talking about the mechanism of operation of lightning arresters, which is still not completely understood in practice.
The second question is the practical one. There are quite enough places with very poor soils in our country. In addition to permafrost soils, we are talking about rocky soils, sands and other rocks that have a low moisture content. The (EIC) Electrical Installations Code have stringent standards that must be adhered to. The question is how to do it with minimal material loss. Even the most confident specialist will most likely lack the courage to claim that he knows the best solution. However, it is in everyone's best interests to try to look at the matter impartially.
With so many personal matters, the situation is much simpler. Unfortunately, the majority of them are caused by our habit of using stencil solutions. They are extremely difficult to get rid of.
Hopefully, during the webinar, a number of completely new questions will be raised. They will be given their own time slot.
In addition, Professor Eduard Meerovich Bazelian will respond to the questions you raised earlier.
Question 1
What methodology can be used to calculate the substation's lightning protection zones using lightning protection systems of various heights?
Question 2
There is a growing trend toward the construction of Data Processing Centers' (DPC) buildings or the conversion of existing buildings into data centers. How best to protect the Data Processing Center, the equipment located in it, as well as the equipment located on the roof of the building (refrigerating machines and installations of cooling systems)? Will it be a ground wire covering the entire area of the building, or can it be lightning rod arrester installed directly on/next to the protected equipment, or something else?
Are there static data describing the advantages and disadvantages of the most common methods of lightning protection, applied to several types of buildings and structures, depending on their location, size, purpose, etc.?
Thank you for your answers.
Question 3
There is a garage, the power supply is provided by a self-supporting wire SSW-4 2x16 . According to the EIC 7.2.22, the installation of SPD is required. There is no lightning protection, the walls are cinder block and brick, the roof is covered with a profiled sheet, and next to it is a metal pipe support from which the self-supporting wire (SSW) comes and descends before being introduced into the garage. It is designed to charge the battery using an intelligent charger without disconnecting from the vehicle's electronics. Please advise the type of SDP - on a mast, or in a switchboard, presumably of a combined type 1+2+3 class. At least according to their characteristics. Thank you in advance.
Question 4
In a private house: should CDPs class 1 in the electrical distribution board and CDPs class 2 in the house distributing board have their own grounding and lightning protection installed?
Is it acceptable to place class 1 CDPs in the distributing board with a meter and class 2 CDPs in the house's distributing board in a private house. In this case, how does the lightning current flow from the grounding into the mains wires through these class 2 CDPs? Are CDPs guaranteed to fail? What do you recommend to prevent lightning from entering the house through the outdoor lightning, overhead power lines to nearby outbuildings on the property? Should I put standard sets of CDPs class 1 + class 2 at these deep inputs into the heart of the electrical system?
Question 5
Have the guidelines for carrying out multi-wire protection masts been developed regarding the shielding issue?
Question 6
There is an object in the Far East, in the Baikal region, where I design a building, and a related organization does grounding and lightning protection. The soils are very bad. Vegetation layer is 0.2 metres followed by sand and granites. No groundwater was found. And these soils freeze to depths of 3.2-3.6 meters. Not permafrost, but almost... What resistance values of the grounding arrangement for electrical safety and lightning protection are worth considering? 10-20 ohms is hard to withstand. Should it be 40 ohms for electrical safety and 40-100 ohms in pulse mode? There is an opinion that electrolytic ground terminals made by ZANDZ and other manufacturers may be ineffective. What shall I do? Change the soil? Or an electrolytic grounding at a depth of 4 meters, where the ground does not freeze?/p>
Question 7
What documents govern the calculation tables: height of the mast, cable thickness?
Is the rod approach (hybrid) still used near the high-rise mast?
What are the characteristics of a chemical electrode?
Question 8
A communication mast in an open field with a height of 20 metres has always been protected in projects with a standard lightning rod arrester. Now I see that using DAS would be a better option. Is that right?
Question 9
Lightning protection of high-rise buildings with glass - mosaic frontispieces."
I consider myself an experienced designer; I have worked for 36 years, primarily as a designer of sections of electric power supply, electric installations, and internal electrical lighting.
Has worked in Moscow for 8.5 years, designing numerous facilities in Moscow, the Moscow region, and throughout the Russian Federation. Now I work in Belgrade, Serbia, but I continue to design for R.F.
I know well the Russian regulatory documents RD 34.21.122-87 and SO 153-34.21.122-2003, European standards EN 62305 -1... EN 62305 -5 and the American standard NFPA 780.
I have an interesting object now, a 40-storey residential building in Belgrade, 155m high. The facade of this object is of the "mosaic" type, where each panel is a separate island that are isolated from each other by plastic and rubber gaskets.
The foreside is made by the German company SCHUCO.
Here are links to the foreside design and installation method:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adfn9y-He7Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayYeghds0oE
ПSCHUCO has proposed a lightning protection solution shown in the animation:
Thunderbolt SCHÜCO USC 65_music3.mp4
They performed the connection of the outer and inner parts of the windows according to the details:
Detail outdoor-indoor part.pdf
Zinc-coated band that is installed on a concrete plate under the screed passes to the nearest lightning rods that are made with zinc-coated band in the reinforced concrete columns of the building structure.
The problem is that the zinc-coated band goes directly under the floor convectors, sometimes in less than 10mm.
Here, in my view and the opinions of our company's colleagues, there are two issues:
1. In the event of a lightning strike during a side strikes, all internal windows will be under high voltage and if a person stands next to the window at the moment of a strike or holds on to the window structure, the person will be exposed to a very high voltage of several kV.2.
2. Because the zinc-coated band passes very close to the floor convectors and for a long distance (sometimes 2.8 m), there may be leads to the supply and control cable of the floor convector, thereby switching the leads to the internal electricity of the apartment, and there is a Smart Home system, etc.
According to the standard EN 62305 -3, which in Serbia is designated SRPS EN 62305 -3 object category 1, lightning grid windows on the roof 5x5 meters, lightning rods at 10 meters. To protect against side lightning strikes, we must protect the last 20% of the building as a roof, the cells should be no more than 5x5 meters. Below 80% of the building, horizontal connections should be no more than 20 m apart, and vertical connections no more than 10m.
Our solution is to make an outer Faraday cage.
It is shown in the drawings attached to this letter.
On the roof, the foreside grid is connected to the lightning rod grid of the roof, and at the bottom to the ground terminal of the object.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 10.12.19
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
This is not the first in Professor Eduard Meerovich Bazelyan's webinar series on the usage of SPD. Nevertheless, the ZANDZ Technical Center constantly receives questions regarding the choice of the protective arrangement itself and auxiliary equipment that should work in emergency situations. Some of these issues have been considered more than once.
The following questions are expected for detailed consideration at the webinar on December 10, 2019:
- When the technical and economically viable to use SPD.
- How to evaluate the lightning current, which should be designed SPD.
- How to determine the level of voltage that should be at the SPD output.
- How to choose a fuse element for SPD and what to do if such selection is not possible.
- Is there an alternative to the fuse element.
- When it is necessary to resort to the sequential installation of several SPDs.
All of these issues will be analyzed in a manner to provide a designer with a specific algorithm for calculations and, if possible, rather simple calculation formulas.
(вебинар перенесён, обновлённая дата будет опубликована позднее)
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
When, at the end of the previous century, we managed to see beyond the tropospheric boundary, the observers saw an impressive picture. Even a very long lightning cannot be compared with it. Today, many of observed phenomena were explained and described quantitatively. These descriptions are closely related with the one explaining storm events under the clouds and are therefore important for practice.
We do not know much about how lightning appear. Flights around the clouds have not provided much information. The electrical field strength measured there did not exceed 5 kV/cm. Although, we need at least 5 times more to ionize the air. Despite this weak field, lightnings appear in the clouds. How? There is no definite answer yet.
Today, we have accumulated sufficient records of lightnings reaching the ground. It turns out that this is only a part of the picture. The other part is hidden up in the clouds. The channel moving towards the ground always has a twin. It is directed upwards, beyond the troposphere. The lightning current, its main adverse factor, depends on its development. Therefore, processes beyond the clouds are important and interesting for practical lightning protection.
Moreover, there is also a pure curiosity. We are always concerned about any spaceship penetrating clouds.
Come to the webinar with Professor Eduard Meerovich Bazelian for unique knowledge!
has passed on 25.03.20
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
In the first part of the webinar, the lecturer introduced the method of effective electrode placement. In the second part, he explained how to minimize the uncertainty of estimating the grounding arrangement pulse characteristics.
has passed on 29.04.20
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 19.08.20
The webinar is intended for: for designers and installers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 23.09.20
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
When discussing the problem of active lightning arresters, it is necessary to start with the attitude of top managers. It is by their will that the regulatory documents on lightning protection are approved that are applicable in the countries of the common market, of which our country is also a member. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has issued IEC 62305 long time ago that covers the lightning protection devices. Several years ago, certain sections of this standard began to be introduced in Russia as the GOST R. The section concerning the external lightning protection device is next in line. The objective assessment of the operating principles of active lightning arresters and their actual capabilities should be given in this section. Unfortunately, it is not possible to rely on this fact. A number of fundamental provisions of the IEC standard indicate an extremely superficial acquaintance of its authors with the physics of gas discharge and the practical principles of lightning protection. To convince the listeners of the webinar, its first part will provide specific examples of those technical absurdities that are the results of the IEC standard recommendations. Otherwise, it is impossible to understand why the domestic specialists are worried about the attempt to implement this regulatory document and why it does not reflect the actual situation with the so-called active lightning arresters.
The second part of the webinar will be devoted to assessment of the actual capabilities of up-to-date active lightning arresters, its actual activity and the consequences of use for the protection of modern technical facilities. An analysis of the existing operating experience in the ESE lightning arresters will be performed and a simple field testing method will be proposed with no need in the special financial costs.
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has passed on 11.11.20
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
It is hard to find a land facility with the lightning protection requirements so confusing as chimneys. Instructions SO-153.34.21-2003 do not mention them at all and neither does IEC 62305. However, Instructions RD-34.21.122-87 rate something that would have been better to avoid. The participants of our webinars will hardly believe the directions to protect the facility higher than 150 m using 20 cm rods. And this is recommended despite the fact that the top radius of many chimneys is several meters!
In the Soviet times, in the USSR territory, more than one hundred chimneys higher than 150 m were built. Their lightning protection is not likely made according to RD-34.21.122-87, although there are no particular problems with them. Probably chimneys do not require any lightning protection at all? We got used to consider chimneys as natural lightning arresters with sufficiently large protection radius. And we often forget that they are also very efficient sources of powerful electromagnetic interference. This is not a very good fact, especially when there are control circuits for modern digital facilities are nearby, e.g. for a digital substation with a modern microprocessor equipment. Certainly, nobody would decide to dismantle the boiler chimney, but we can "hide it" for the lightning if we use efficient means for that.
As you can see, the chimney is a source of many unpleasant conditions that cannot be solved in each case. We have to talk about them seriously. We will discuss this in more details during the webinar.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 10.03.21
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
Measurements in the lightning protection are often very unusual. Their results allow predicting soon storms, assessing actual efficiency of grounding arrangements and resistance of the protected facilities to lightnings and continuing the research of the lightning itself.
What can we do when a roof of a high-rise building is used for recreational or technology purpose. To provide safety, an operational storm prevention system should be in place, which is capable of reacting not only to frontal but also to local storms, which are not predicted by a meteorological service. The system can be based on measurements of the strength of electrical field in the atmosphere or a crown current from a specially installed electrode. Want to know more?
The lightning protection design should be based upon actual data on lightning currents. There are only few such measurements, and nearly all of them are made in high-rise structures. This is not what designers who work with typical structures need. Are bulk lightning current measurements possible? For this, there is a suitable original development in Russia.
What can we do to measure the grounding resistance in urban or industrial areas where there is no proper place for current and potential electrodes? The situation gets even more complicated when you need to measure pulse parameters of the ground terminal.
But great news is that there are no hopeless situations.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 30.06.21
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
Isolated lightning protection is not something new. In the Russian regulatory documents, including Instructions RD 34.32.122-87, a concept of standalone lightning arresters has already existed. They were not installed on a protected facility but were spaced apart from it for a particular distance in the ground and air. Actually, these were isolated lightning arresters. Their task is to avoid lightning current distribution along metal structures of the protected facility and thus prevent damage to internal equipment and people's injuries.
Both tasks have remained significant even today due to rapid development of Smart technical systems. However, in technological respect, the complexity of creating an isolated lightning protection has increased manifold. First, due to the structure's height growth; second, due to a very rapid decrease in electrical strength of microelectronic modules and increase in their damage severity.
Lightning arresters are usually located on the ground rather than on the roofs of high-rise structures, but the current from them is transported along current collectors having a high-voltage insulation in relation to metal structures, which in no case should take any significant current load. But grounding devices of the isolated lightning protection system are no less significant challenge. It is common when they almost nullify the proposed protective effect of isolated lightning arresters./p>
Today, the use of isolated lightning arresters has not been elaborated methodologically in full, although a series of technological solutions has been proven well in practice and can be recommended. To avoid mistakes and unnecessary expenses for the consumer, we have to credibly evaluate surge levels which affect isolating structures of lightning arresters, and discard any fantastic proposals requiring lengthy current collectors with insulations unavailable yet for today's technologies.
These and other implicit aspects of insulated lightning protection will be discussed during the webinar. Register to learn more!
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 10.11.21
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
Any industry has its own specifics which are hard to reflect in the national documents, and industry-specific documents are intended exactly for this. A wish to develop separate regulatory documents for lightning protection is appropriate. This task does not seem to be too hard when the specialists are at work. Unfortunately, they are often replaced by top managers who often have too extensive albeit slight knowledge. As a result, old errors are transferred from documents to documents and new errors are repeatedly introduced.
Engineers of the ZANDZ Technical Centre have encountered this during the preparation for the webinar dedicated to lightning protection of explosive facilities. Then, an idea to analyze typical industry-specific documents for lightning protection has occurred for the industries where explosives and hydrocarbon fuels are widely used. The result exceeded expectations. It emerged that regulatory documents contain erroneous instructions, and such errors are confirmed even in the study books for lightning protection and are evident for any engineer who received a good score for the general physics course.
Surely, we cannot list all errors as we will not have enough time for this. During the webinar, we will highlight the most typical and important errors. Moreover, we would like to draw the designers' attention to the regulatory documents' contents since it is not always appropriate to follow them strictly. Regulations are developed by the people who are also prone to error.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 15.12.21
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
International technically significant smart systems are protected by numerous SDPs which prevent hazardous effects of electromagnetic field of the lightning. Russian top managers do not demonstrate any special interest to SDPs saying that the probability of storm damage of microelectronics in Russian systems is very low. Since common nature of the lightning has been definitely proved by several generations of scientists, we have to think about differences in opinions and interests of technical managers. In this regard, it is much more difficult to deal with them than with the lightning.
SDPs of modern design have surely proved themselves as an efficient protection means from irreversible damage of microelectronic equipment in the storm environment. An important feature of using SDPs is that they are installed directly into the protected circuit. Their mere presence alters electrotechnical parameters of the circuit. These changes are often not allowable (e.g. changes in the frequency characteristics). SDP is a technically complex device. Its reliable fault-free operation is finite. If electronic circuits of smart equipment contain many SDPs, its reliable operation in general may reduce along with the increase in the number of SDPs. This situation is hardly allowable. Moreover, SDPs are rather expensive.
The first issue to be resolved by the designer is to determine whether the SDPs are really necessary. Electromagnetic interference from the lightning may be also reduced by other conventional lightning protection means. A high-level specialist must use them. The decision on using SDPs should be technologically and economically feasible. You must clearly understand the task to be performed by the SDPs in a particular electrical circuit. This is what the planned webinar is about.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 6.07.22
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
The practical lightning protection has been existing for almost three centuries. During this time, reliable means and methods for protection against direct lightning strikes and hazardous effects of electromagnetic field have been selected and successfully tested. The engineers have obtained only the best tools. Then, what is this planned webinar about? Surely, this is not about what has been discarded during the operations experience. We are not going to present another criticism for active lightning protection although it probably could have been useful. We are talking about reliable protection means used by an unsavvy designer in other way than they were intended for.
Everybody knows that benefits of the electrical plug have been checked for centuries of its household use. But it can hardly be that someone will try to eat a soup made of sauerkraut and dried porcini mushrooms using a fork. However, it often happens in the lightning protection. High-rise lightning arresters and lightning grids, isolated lightning rods and standalone lightning arresters are used in unsuitable conditions. The result is quite tragic.
The webinar material contains a review of typical unjustified solutions and recommendations about how to avoid these errors in designing lightning protection.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 7.09.22
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
In the forthcoming webinar, we will consider how the grounding resistance varies due to lightning current. This is one of the main problems in the lightning protection. The grounding resistance determines the most essential part of the storm overvoltage, i.e. its resistive component. In order to estimate it, we should know a specific current value of the grounding resistance at a time and the given flowing current value. Traditionally, the main reason for decrease of grounding resistance in lightning current flowing is soil ionization processes. In fact, the main reason is completely different. Spark channels creeping over the soil surface for the distance of several dozen meters occur from the lightning current entry point. Having a high conductivity, they create an effect of multiple decrease in the grounding resistance.
During the webinar, the participants will learn about physical properties of creeping plasma discharges and also learn about:
- the dynamics of the grounding resistance changes in time in various lightning currents;
- how the wavefront and pulse amplitude of the resistive component of storm overvoltage change;
- how to consider the effect of decrease in grounding resistance in pre-design calculations of the lightning protection and avoid certain hazardous effects of creeping discharges.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 9.11.22
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
High-rise buildings became common in our cities long ago. As we get more of them, suggestions to operate roofs of such buildings are coming in. It is a very attractive idea: to place a part of the engineering equipment of the modern building on the roof. Moreover, the roof can even be used by people. Restaurants, SPA centers, playgrounds are only some examples offered by the customers of designers.
However, such attempts often fail due to imperfect Russian regulatory framework in terms of providing efficient lightning protection.
Lightning strike frequency grows along with the building height. This is an experimentally confirmed fact. The building up to 200 m high gets a strike 2 to 3 times a year (in Russia). Then, the frequency of lightning discharges hazardous for the building grows due to upward lightnings. Their emergence and development mechanism have a different physical nature compared to downward lightnings. It is not studied well today, especially when we are talking about the start location choice mechanism on the roof.
In regulatory documents for lightning protection, the features of upward lightnings are not considered at all. The recently introduced GOST 59789 (IEC 62305-3.2010) prescribes, without any evidence, to use methods for calculation of lightning arrester efficiency that do not depend on the facility height or lightning type.
During the forthcoming webinar, we are planning to provide a review of techniques and solutions for practical lightning protection to consider the specifics of upward lightning development. We will consider physical factors affecting the efficiency of technical solutions and provide recommendations for the lightning protection arrangement on the roof of a high-rise building.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
has passed on 21.12.22
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
Franklin and Lomonosov are to be envied. It's not unreasonable to assume that they were done with lightning once they were persuaded of the lightning rod's efficiency. That was over three centuries ago, yet the lightning battle is still going strong today. It has become particularly acute in our twenty-first century. Microelectronics, which have taken over not only tech firms but also our homes, is the blame. Lightning changed weapons. Microelectronic devices might be damaged by moderately strong impacts alone; ultra-high voltages and multi-ampere currents aren't necessary. They could be generated from a distance. Lightning has become long-range.
The focus of this webinar is on electromagnetic inductions, which can occur without a direct lightning strike. Impacts that occurred hundreds of meters from the shielded building started to pose a threat. Electrostatic and electromagnetic induction is their mechanism. The current lightning protection designer must have a thorough understanding of their nature since, when used appropriately, the methods of protection against electromagnetic forces are incredibly simple and efficient. The word "appropriately" is the key here. There are moments when you need to be reminded of the details and complexities.
The quality of grounding is a constant topic of discussion when discussing surge protection. This is most likely customary. However, shielding from electromagnetic impacts is not always possible with a lower grounding resistance. This means proves to be quite ineffectual in many practically relevant circumstances.
It's also not a good idea to use surge overvoltage protection devices hastily. Its substantial price and numerous negative side effects make it far from a harmless treatment. After all, it is completely unnecessary to treat a runny nose with modern antibiotics. SDP is necessary where ordinary measures fail.
One of the primary topics of the webinar is the viability of EMI shielding techniques that are practically useful.
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has passed on 22.03.23
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
Russia is mostly a plain country. However, there are Caucasus mountains, Crimea, Karelia, and the Urals as well as mountain groups in Siberian and the Far East. We have to build structures in gorges, in hills, or even at high mountain tops. All of this is not reflected in lightning protection regulatory documents. One may think, why? However, it is simple: gorge walls cover the facility from the lightning, and the deeper the gorge, the more reliable it is, while the construction at a mountain top is too close to thunderclouds. This does not need to be proved, although yields qualitative estimates only.
Our permanent speaker, Prof. of ENIN E. M. Bazelyan. The webinar material is based on actual data that may be used to substantiate the choice of technical solutions and calculate their characteristics. As usual, the author provides recommendations on the use of existing regulatory documents.
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has passed on 02.08.23
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
The lightning is the most powerful natural source of the pulse current and, hence, the electromagnetic interference. Any equipment should be tested for effects in order to determine the highest level of danger. This is not an easy experimentation. To perform the work, you need a costly testing bench and special test mock-ups. Non-living mock-ups. During the test, they can be destroyed or re-tested, when necessary.
However, a living creature is also an object of lightning. Talking about humans, it is another matter altogether. They should not be damaged during tests, which means that, under many important conditions, they cannot be the tested object. One can try to conduct model tests at reduced voltage and then extrapolate the results. This provides good results in the systems close to linear. But human beings are a dramatically non-linear system. The human body resistance may vary within several orders of magnitude depending on the conditions. It is hard to rely on luck here. And there is no other way out. The decision should be made today and without fundamental error.
The webinar held on the effect of a strong although short-term pulse voltage on humans allows assessing the danger for life. Reliability in determining the hazardous threshold of touch and impulse voltages in the microsecond time interval is crucial in this situation. Human protection is no less important than the protection of the most state-of-the-art equipment. Of course, not everything will be found out immediately, but it is impossible to delay any longer.
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has passed on 20.12.23
The webinar is intended for: for designers of lightning protection and grounding
Venue: online (requires internet access from your computer)
Cost: free of charge
Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
GOST P 59789-2021 (State Standard) is a new standard for lightning protection. This document has another name, IEC 62305-3:2010. It's quite authentic. A new normative document on lightning protection was approved and implemented in Russia by Order No. 1266-st of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology. This document outlines the requirements for installing lightning conductors only using IEC procedures. This was done at the initiative of the Technical Committee for Standardization, TC 337, Electrical Installations of Buildings. The content of the document is actually an almost exact translation into Russian of IEC 62305 (Part 3).
The participants of our webinars have long been familiar with the original IEC document. One of its inventors was once requested to give a speech. He consented to respond to inquiries from the public that were pre-arranged for this reason. Unfortunately, there were no answers. The lecturer simply refused this part of the agreement. However, domestic specialists have already covered the IEC-recommended rolling sphere method, protective angle method, and even lightning protection grid method in webinars. Although the new GOST only addresses one of them—radioactive—which has already been abandoned even in third-world nations, active lightning arresters of all kinds were also denounced.
Why is it important to revisit the topic of the suggested techniques for selecting external lightning protection means after the release of the new GOST R 59789-2021? The fact is that Article 1266-ст introduces the normative document into force. Now it may well be applied by domestic designers. As a result, it's critical to evaluate the project's risk level objectively using the suggested methodological elaborations as a base. This is the main purpose of the planned webinar.
The economic side of the problem has not been ignored either. Lightning protection costs money. This is a significant sum of money for advanced facilities. It is important to apply design methods that are free from unwarranted reserve. Such a problem is far from being answered in the IEC suggestion.
See the full list of webinars on a separate page
WEBINAR SERIES TITLED “BIM DESIGN: FROM FUNDAMENTALS TO PRACTICE”
Webinar "Selection and Installation of Surge Protectors for AC Powerlines According to European Surge Protection Standards"
Why Can DAS Work ("Green" Lightning Protection)?