Lightning Protection System for Observatory Located on Pip Ivan Mountain Using GALMAR Equipment

The astronomy and meteorology station on Pip Ivan Chornohora (the Carpathians) built by the Polish people in 1938 was not almost operated according to its intended purpose. For long time after the Second World War, there were only bare walls, and sometimes the building was used as a tourist shelter.

Plans to reinstate the facility have regularly occurred since 1996. There was an information that EU plans to allocate about 1.5 million EUR to restore the observatory. The creation of the International Scientific Center "Observatory" of the Ciscarpathian and Warsaw Universities is planned. With the EU funds, it is planned to install modern meteorological equipment as well all equipment required to perform search and rescue operations in complicated highland conditions.


Observatory installed on the Pip Ivan Chornohora Mountain

The building reconstruction was already started in the previous year. In particular, lightning protection and grounding systems were calculated and installed. The design involved the use of reliable and corrosion-resistant elements. Any kind of repair in these conditions is very complex and expensive and is only possible in the period from May to October. In the remaining period of the year, materials delivery is nearly impossible. Moreover, considering harsh operating conditions, it is clear that the material quality was the most important issue.

The GALMAR lightning protection system made of copper-plated wires, copper and bronze clamps, and GALMAR grounding electrodes made of copper-plated rods and copper-plated bar meet the strict requirements to quality and longevity in full. According to test results, the resistance of copper-plated materials to corrosion is fully similar to copper. At the same time, the use of copper-plated materials instead of copper allowed to significantly reduce this design cost without any compromise in terms of quality.


Lightning protection for the observatory built on the Pip Ivan Mountain using the GALMAR equipment

The grounding arrangement was installed in rocky soils having high resistivity. To achieve the required value of the grounding resistance and accelerate the work, the current-conducting mix, GALMAR Resistivity, was used. This is a special powder used together with horizontal and vertical grounding electrodes to improve the contact surface with the soil, which allows reducing the active resistance of the grounding arrangement.

All of these have become possible due to high-quality materials made by CBM Technology GALMAR and highly skilled specialists who performed this work.

Based on: https://watson-energo.ua/ru/blog/ustrojstvo-molniezaschity-zdaniya-observatorii-na-gore-pop-ivan



Related Articles: