When designing lightning protection it's important to consider adequate surge protection. On a smaller scale people protect their treasured home electrical devices with surge protection devices, on a larger scale devices are available to protect a wide range of items such as servers, communications, data storage, telephony etc.
There are a number of forms of protection needed against surges as there is more than one type of surge. One type of surge is transient over voltages which are short duration high magnitude voltage peaks with fast rising edges, often described as "spikes". The most common cause of these spikes is lightning strikes, but they can be caused by electrical switching when there is increased demand placed upon an electrical system it becomes overpowered. These surges can cause devastating damage to systems that are not protected. The most severe damage is to cable installation which in a worst case scenario can result in fatalities through either electric shocks or fire. Other damages can be to electrical and electronic equipment resulting in data loss, degradation and equipment failure. These aspects can cost a company a lot of revenue, in terms of a loss of productivity, product spoilage, staff overtime and delays to clients, not forgetting sales lost to competitors when your business is unable to run smoothly.
There are different types of surge protection devices dependent on the type of transient over-voltage. Direct lightning strikes are protected by lightning current or equipotential bonding SPDs. Indirect lightning strikes and switching transients are protected by transient over-voltage SPDs. The main purpose of lightning current and equipotential bonding SPD's are to prevent sparking from cable damage by lightning strike, so the site does not become a fire hazard. Transient over-voltage SPD's are there to protect against secondary effects of indirect lightning and switching transients such as data loss and equipment failure.
There are certain areas that require surge protection in order for the protection to be adequate. You need to protect all cables which enter and leave a building including mains power supplies (including UPS), data communication and local are network cables, signal, control, instrumentation and alarm lines, CCTV, satellite, TV and antenna cables and telephone and telemetry lines. It is also important to protect the power supply local to important equipment, electronic equipment outside the main building.
Whatever the surge protection needed you can get both surge protection devices and advice from Churchill Specialist Contracting.
Tuesday 20 December 2011
Monday 12 December 2011
Lightning Protection Standards
The design of a suitable lightning protection system should always be undertaken by a suitably qualified BS EN 62305 2006 designer with certification to prove their competence, however unfortunately this is not always the case and unscrupulous designers have been known to deliberately under specify the design requirements ensuring they are then awarded the business.
At Churchill Specialist Contracting all Lightning protection designers are fully certificated and as part of very specialised and qualified team work under two renowned and highly beneficial quality systems: UKAS OHSAS 18001 and ISO 9001 both with LRQA. All directly employed site engineers are qualified to a minimum NVQ level 2 industry standard an achievement unparallel in the lightning protection sector.
Churchill Specialist Contracting offer two types of lightning protection the conventional Faraday cage type installation and the Pulsar ESE System of lightning protection that conforms to the European code NFC17-102 1995.
The BS EN 62305 2006 standard is split into 4 parts, Part 1 outlines the theory behind the protection methods that the other 3 parts require. Part 2 looks at risk management in installation and calculates the risk of loss of human life, loss of service to the public, loss of cultural heritage and loss of economic value. The third part details the protection measures required as a lightning protection system comprises of 3 main components, an air termination network to capture the lightning protection, down conductors to take the charge down to the ground and an earth termination system to disperse the lightning current safely to earth. Part 4 of the standard is the requirements to lightning protect electronic systems from a lightning electromagnetic impulse. Many modern systems need protection from the threat of lost and destroyed data, equipment damage, and repair work for remote and unmanned stations, loss of production and most importantly the reduction of a potential Health & Safety hazard.
Churchill Specialist Contractors offer onsite training via the OSAT route in the nationally recognised qualification NVQ. To qualify and work towards these qualification candidates must have 2 years Approved Prior Learning (APL) experience. As all Churchill’s directly employed engineers have this NVQ qualification you can be assured you are working with experienced and competent engineers.
So while lightning protection can be installed by contractors in closely related sectors such as electricians, alarm engineers etc if you don't want to take advantage of complete lightning protection installation services it is always worth having an inspection by a fully accredited company like Churchill Specialist Contracting to ensure lightning protection system will be effective and comply with all relevant standards.
At Churchill Specialist Contracting all Lightning protection designers are fully certificated and as part of very specialised and qualified team work under two renowned and highly beneficial quality systems: UKAS OHSAS 18001 and ISO 9001 both with LRQA. All directly employed site engineers are qualified to a minimum NVQ level 2 industry standard an achievement unparallel in the lightning protection sector.
Churchill Specialist Contracting offer two types of lightning protection the conventional Faraday cage type installation and the Pulsar ESE System of lightning protection that conforms to the European code NFC17-102 1995.
The BS EN 62305 2006 standard is split into 4 parts, Part 1 outlines the theory behind the protection methods that the other 3 parts require. Part 2 looks at risk management in installation and calculates the risk of loss of human life, loss of service to the public, loss of cultural heritage and loss of economic value. The third part details the protection measures required as a lightning protection system comprises of 3 main components, an air termination network to capture the lightning protection, down conductors to take the charge down to the ground and an earth termination system to disperse the lightning current safely to earth. Part 4 of the standard is the requirements to lightning protect electronic systems from a lightning electromagnetic impulse. Many modern systems need protection from the threat of lost and destroyed data, equipment damage, and repair work for remote and unmanned stations, loss of production and most importantly the reduction of a potential Health & Safety hazard.
Churchill Specialist Contractors offer onsite training via the OSAT route in the nationally recognised qualification NVQ. To qualify and work towards these qualification candidates must have 2 years Approved Prior Learning (APL) experience. As all Churchill’s directly employed engineers have this NVQ qualification you can be assured you are working with experienced and competent engineers.
So while lightning protection can be installed by contractors in closely related sectors such as electricians, alarm engineers etc if you don't want to take advantage of complete lightning protection installation services it is always worth having an inspection by a fully accredited company like Churchill Specialist Contracting to ensure lightning protection system will be effective and comply with all relevant standards.
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