Lightning protection laboratory

The high-voltage hall and the Lightning protection laboratory are available at elenia for lightning protection tests.

The lightning protection laboratory has various surge current and surge voltage generators for different tests. In addition to the surge current generator, a transformer circuit can be switched on to simulate the low-voltage network, which is a special feature of the lightning protection laboratory. This makes it possible to integrate test objects into a real network and to observe network currents.

For these very fast processes, a stable and time-discrete measurement technology is required. Five measuring samples with an amplitude resolution of 14-bit at a sampling rate of 100 MS/s are available for this purpose. Furthermore, various measuring devices are available, such as a high-speed camera and pressure sensors.

Among other things, lightning arresters in the low-voltage network (Type I arresters) based on spark gap technology are being investigated. The individual areas of investigation are: the behavior and the quenching process of the grid following current, the interaction of the surge current with the grid, the plasma propagation with the interaction with the chamber wall and the plasma properties.

The schematic diagram of the laboratory shows all the main generation and measurement equipment. During the tests, the transformer circuit can be disconnected, allowing the shock event to be investigated on its own.

Two compact and mobile generators (EMC 2002 and EMC 2004) are available from Hilo-Test to generate the shock event (PDF).

Product information of the generators :

Max. charging voltage of 10 kV
Max. power Energy of 1500 Ws
External control
Surge voltages, surge currents and hybrid tests can be tested
Different surge current waveforms adjustable

To observe the follower current, it is possible to perform measurements on the low-voltage network (PDF).

Information on simulation:

Connection to the 6 kV medium voltage network
390 kVA total power
Low voltage from 50 to 750 V
25 kA prospective short-circuit current
Variable adjustment of cos φ via chokes
Less than 1° surge trigger accuracy to mains phase

Fiber optic cables are available for data transmission and a BitGate system is available for acquisition (PDF).

BitGate system product information:

AD3000 System
5 isolated measuring channels
14-bit resolution
Max. sampling Sampling Rate of 100 MS/s
2 GByte memory per channel

Pearson coils, high-voltage probes, and measurement shunts are available for current and voltage measurements (PDF).

Measurement Information:

Current measurements up to 500 kA and rise time measurements up to 0.3 µs.
Short-term voltage measurements up to 6 kV and rise time measurements up to 0.9 ns.

For the measurement of plasma pressure, two miniature piezoelectric sensors with associated measuring chain are available from Kistler (PDF).

Product information about the pressure sensors:

Low resistance sensor with integrated amplifier.
Max. measurable pressure up to 689 bar
Time constant of 700 s
Natural frequency of 500 kHz
Measuring head diameter of 5.5 mm

To measure the spectrum of thermal radiation, a spectrometer with associated measurement chain is available from Avantes (PDF).

Product information about the compact spectrometer:

Wavelength range 200 to 1100 nm
Wavelength resolution of 1.5 nm
Variable integration time from 2 µs to 20 s
Minimum sampling time of 2.09 ms

A high speed camera from Photron is available for optical inspection of the plasma in the DUT (PDF).

Product information about the camera:

Maximum resolution of 1024 x 1024 pixels
Black and white images
Maximum frame rate of 800 kfps
Minimum exposure time of 0.2 µs

Kontaktperson:

Tobias Kopp

Enno Peters

Lightning protection laboratory

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