One of the most powerful and destructive natural disasters can be caused due to lightning. It discharges a huge amount of electrical energy that may be of several thousand amperes to two lakhs amperes. The lightning discharge for a very short duration usually for about 200 microseconds but it is such huge electricity that you will be able to light up half a million 100 Watt bulbs. Thus, due to lightning, there may several buildings may get damaged, trees may be blown apart, and severe injuries may be caused to the people which may even lead to the death of the person. That is the reason why it is very essential to have a lightning protection system at your home so that you can protect your property and the life of your family members.
What is a Lighting protection system?
The Lightning Protection System (LPS) is a kind of system which comes up with some means by which the lightning discharges to enter the earth and makes sure that it does not pass through any kind of non-conducting structures like buildings or conducting structures like electrical equipment.
With a Lightning Protection System (LPS) you will not be able to prevent lightning from striking. But what you can do is that you can control it and can prevent the damage that it may have caused with the help of a low resistance path so that the lightning energy can be discharged.
But whenever you buy the Lightning Protection System (LPS) make sure that it can encompass both structural lightning protection as well as transient overvoltage protection. With the help of a structural lightning protection system, it will not be possible to protect the electronic system that is there in the building from transient overvoltage damage.
Risks involved in lightning
The risks that are involved in lightning can be categorized as follows:
- Risk to the person and animals
- Risk to the buildings, structures, and internal equipment
Risk to the person and animals may include direct and side flash, step and touch potential, etc. It can also produce a secondary effect such as it can cause asphyxiation from the smoke or injury that may have happened due to fire. It also causes structural damage, for example, the masonry may fall from the place where the lightning has struck. Again it may cause an unsafe condition for various other things. For example, due to lightning water may start penetrating from the roof because of which any kind of electrical or other types of hazard may have occurred. Again due to lightning electrical equipment or any kind of safety system may also start malfunctioning.
When it comes to the risk to structure there may be several risk factors such as because of the heat of lightning fire or explosion may get triggered on the attachment point or electrical arching of lightning current that are there within the building. Again due to the ohmic heating the conductor inside the house may start melting which may result in fire or explosion. Moreover, lightning may cause plasma heat because of which puncture of the roof may occur. Lightning may also cause the failure of the internal electrical and electronic system. Apart from that, due to lightning mechanical damage may also occur at the point of the strike that includes dislodged materials.
How an effective lightning protection system can protect you from damage?
An effective Lightning Protection System (LPS) can protect you from several damages in the following way:
- It can intercept the lightning flash by creating your preferred point of strike.
- With a proposed designed conductor it becomes possible to conduct the lightning strike to the ground safely.
- With an effective LPS, it also becomes possible to eliminate the ground loops as well as other potential differentials between the Lightning Protection System by creating low impedance.
- The LPS can also protect the equipment from surges and transients on incoming power lines for preventing any kind of equipped damage.
- With an effective LPS, it becomes possible to prevent any kind of mechanical or thermal damage to the structure.
- You can also prevent any kind of sparking in your apartment which may cause fire or explosion.
- LPS can also limit steps as well as can touch voltages for controlling the risk of injury to the occupant.
Conclusion
Thus with the help of effective lightning protection systems, it becomes possible to protect the structures from any kind of fire or mechanical destruction. Apart from that, an effective lightning protection system can also prevent a person in the building from injury or even death. Hence, it is always advisable to install an effective lightning protection system at your home and office and it is easily available in the market at an affordable rate.