9/22/2023 0 Comments Lightning rod systemThis 2500-m-high (8000-ft) mountain is capped by a 30-story-tall telecommunications tower that is struck by lightning about 100 times per year. To increase their chances, Houard and his colleagues performed their laser experiment in one of the most lightning-prone spots in Europe: Säntis Mountain, on the northeastern side of Switzerland. “You may have to wait a very long time to see a strike.” And just seeing one event isn’t enough: researchers need to build up the statistics to be sure that the laser is having a noticeable effect. “Lightning is very unpredictable,” Houard says. Some tests were unlucky and never had a storm come close enough to the laser. However, demonstrating the system in the field has proven more difficult. Laser-based lightning guidance was first proposed in 1974, and several experiments have confirmed the basic concept in a lab setting. Unlike a metal structure, the laser “rod” could be turned on only when the skies are threatening. “The idea of using a laser is to create an extension of a metal rod that could, in theory, be several hundreds of meters or a kilometer high,” Houard says. Building a higher rod would protect a larger area, but this solution is not always practical. But this protection is only afforded to objects within a certain distance of the rod, given roughly by the rod’s height. These tall metal rods are good conductors that provide a path of least resistance from the clouds to the ground. “Currently, the only available protection against lightning is a classical Franklin lightning rod,” says Aurélien Houard, a member of the research team from the École Polytechnique in Paris. The damage caused by lightning-estimated to cause billions of dollars of damage per year in the US-can be reduced by controlling where the electric discharge goes. Such a laser system could one day provide lightning protection to sensitive facilities, such as airports, rocket launchpads, and wind farms. Stationed on a Swiss mountain, researchers have shown that the beam from a high-powered laser provides a preferential path for lightning bolts. A 21st century update on Franklin’s kite is a laser fired up into the atmosphere. When Benjamin Franklin launched his famous kite into a stormy sky in 1752, he provided a preferential path for the charge accumulated in the clouds to reach the ground. To make the laser light visible in the photo, the researchers converted it from infrared to green wavelengths using a frequency-doubling device. Stollberg A laser fired into the sky near a communications tower has been shown to guide lightning strikes. Beware of cheap copycat products such as these: Retractable Grounding Reel (RGR), Adjustable Bypass Conductor (ABC), Retractable Bypass Conductor (RBC), Dynamic Bypass Conductor (DBC), Rewinder Earthing System (RES), and Retracting Bypass Conductor Assembly (RBCA).TRUMPF/M. Today there are cheap knockoffs popping up all over the globe. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. No one else can claim this level of expertise. LEC has incorporated this experience and hundreds of hours of environmental testing into our units. Our units have experienced windy, corrosive, hot, cold, dry, and wet conditions in every environment around the globe. Only LEC has had hundreds of units on oil tanks around the world. With over 20 years of experience and over 15,000 units sold, we are the most established provider of bypass conductors in the market. LEC was also instrumental in bypass conductors becoming an API 545 recommended practice in 2008. Our founder, Roy Carpenter holds 2 US patents on our bypass conductor, the Retractable Grounding Assembly, or RGA. LEC created the bypass conductor industry in 1999. LEC’s patented solutions provide industrial strength lightning protection to reduce our customers risk of operational loss and liability and provide peace of mind against one of nature’s most powerful forces. Our lightning prevention products are made in the USA and are designed for the environmental conditions in which they will be deployed. Thousands of companies rely on LEC’s innovative technologies including FedEx, Exxon/Mobil, NASA, Duke Energy, Turner Broadcasting and many others. ![]() LEC’s technology is recommended where any outage or impairment of operations can create significant losses of equipment and production. Our unique lightning prevention and protection products are designed to provide maximum operating reliability for Oil & Gas industry, sensitive chemical processing, power generation IT Data Centers, Nuclear Power, communication, transportation, and similar uptime critical facilities. The LEC Dissipation Array® Systems has been preventing lightning for protected structures since 1971. Lightning Eliminators & Consultants, or LEC, is the worldwide leader for industrial lightning prevention and protection products.
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