Increasing power density of equipment demands for efficient lightning protection designs

Brijesh Malik, Vice President, Dehn India (P) Limited. In an interview with EPR Magazine. 

Highlighting the key parameters to obtain efficient earthing system, Brijesh Malik emphasises on adding design efficiency and choosing the right material through research and development to offer safe earthing.

Please brief us about your range of earthing and lightning protection solutions?

Dehn is a world leader in providing lightning protection solutions according to IS/IEC 62305 and the National Building Code (NBC) – 2016. DEHN also provides consultancy on grid interfacing, grounding design, measurement, and root cause analysis to the renewable energy sector. Renewable energy generating installations, such as PV plants or wind turbines, have been subjected to all kinds of noises, including lightning strikes, for over 25 years. Lightning causes downtime of plants and hence revenue losses. Professional and compliant lightning protection system design, as well as professional implementation, has thus become critical for the renewable sector.

Lightning protection is achieved by following IEC 62305 (part 1 to 4) standards and IEC 61400-24 in the following steps as a package:
• Catching the lightning to avoid direct interface with modules – using 10/350 microsec wave tested Air-terminals (angled or straight)
• Down-conduction to the ground;
• Dissipation in well-designed AC and DC earthing (grounding) systems using multilayer soil modelling;
• Equipotential Bonding at all metal and conductors levels on AC and DC side of inverters, combiner boxes etc., using SPDs tested as per Type 1 and Type 2 Tests.

How are the technology changes impacting the demand for earthing systems in India?

Earthing is the subject of safety for humans, protection and proper functioning of equipment. It is always an important topic, but unfortunately, grounding, as a fact, was always a grounded topic. Lots of compromises on design and selection of materials and poor workmanship have been causing accidents, premature equipment failure and even fatalities at sites.

On one hand, the increasing use and dependency of electronics and the increasing power density of equipment and substations ask for professional and efficient designing of earthing systems on the other.

What essential aspects have to be considered while designing and selecting an earthing/ lightning protection system?

The lightning protection design shall be carried out based on the risk assessment result for calculating the lightning protection level (LPL) (I/II/III or IV) according to the IS/IEC 62305-2 standard.

The type of the installation, thunderstorm days, number of human beings, type of fire suppression system, and services offered by the installation are to be considered while designing the lightning protection according to the IS/IEC 62305 standard.

On the earthing side, apart from the right design of the earthing system, increasing awareness towards soil pollution and ageing due to corrosion calls for the right selection of the earthing material, e.g., metal parts and green earthing enhancing compounds. The requirements for the durability of these materials in various climatic conditions, including lightning, are quite visible on cards. Furthermore, on a very positive note, the much awaited willingness to implement safety measures, ask for transparency in earthing resistance, and grid integration of the panels.

Which new materials and technologies are being implemented in your products to ensure safety in earthing and lightning protection devices?

We use high-grade materials and processes to make our lightning protection products. Furthermore, we test these components in our world-renowned test laboratory in direct lightning conditions.

While offering our products to the users, we keep all dimensions of safety in our mind. Even our self recoverable, leakage-proof, and fire-safe SPDs ensure the lowest stress on the target equipment even during 10/350s lightning currents up to 100KA. We also take due care of short-circuit conditions at the site and make our products easily implementable even in high-short-circuit conditions up to 220 KA at the site. Such Extensive field knowledge and high levels of research and development by DEHN are prerequisites for high and unmatched levels of performance. DEHN is seen as a trend setter and bench mark worldwide in lightning and surge protection.

How are the industry and the consumers responding to these safety devices?

For many years, DEHN has been the most active partner in creating lightning safety awareness. Awareness about lightning safety in the industry is increasing with time. Not only in industry, but in schools and colleges too, we make a point of creating awareness about lightning safety. Sensitivity to safety is becoming increasingly important for Indian industry and consumers when designing electrical systems for any installation. The majority of future infrastructure and industries will adhere to the IS/IEC 62305 standards for lightning and surge protection.