Industrial Surge Protection Devices
Industrial installations and facilities rely upon unique combinations of equipment, geographic locations and protection systems in order to operate to their fullest extent. Weaknesses in protection systems can and will result in losses to the business realized as added operational costs and lost customers, as these things go hand in hand in many cases. The ongoing operations of the facility might create a specific number of products or services that are utilized by the public or private sector, and the pricing of these products and services is tied directly to the amounts that can be produced within a time frame. Outages or stoppages within the facility can create situations where projections are missed or services are interrupted, resulting in higher costs or lost customers. When combined with the necessity to restore functionality, equipment repair costs and lost productivity hours, business margins typically shrink every year. The competitive landscape in nearly every business sector demands the reduction of operational costs as much as possible, and weakening of any systems due to weather events are a major contributing factor that must be addressed.
Many industrial facilities are unique in that they can be situated in relatively remote locations, not surrounded by taller structures. Many times these sites involve structures or materials that will attract and conduct lightning activity. The modern industrial facility also relies upon increasingly high tech equipment for its processes, and that equipment while positioned within protective enclosures as much as possible can also be exposed to potential dangers through conductive connections. What this means is that even though great care is taken to shield computerized equipment from the elements, it is still in danger due to its interconnectivity with other components or the structures themselves via wire cables. The power surges that follow lightning strikes, the difficulties that can arise from electricity flowing freely along power lines, data cables and conductive metals, can in many cases lead to equipment failure or weakening. The equipment can be housed in enclosures and street cabinets to protect from moisture and wind, but the power surge has the ability to flow directly through that component due to the fact that it cannot be isolated. If a lightning strike happens at an exposed location nearby the industrial facility, the power surge that follows it will move from that point to any piece of connected equipment in the chain, ultimately causing significant damage levels. The only legitimate defense against phenomena such as these is the introduction of industrial grade surge protection devices, installed redundantly and at critical junction points. Through this integration, the damages done by flowing electrical transients can be brought to a lower point. While damage from lightning strikes is nearly impossible to completely eliminate in an industrial facility, working towards reducing it can keep systems online longer and increase productivity. To continually provide better protection for these fragile electronic systems, better surge protection devices need to be developed. Surge protection technology is continually being developed, and modern surge protection devices now feature aspects that were once thought impossible. An example of these improvements is an “always-on” feature that helps Raycap Strikesorb SPDs to continue protecting electrical systems even after multiple surges, and reducing restoration times and costs. Raycap is leading the field in developing new and better surge protection technologies, and is the choice of thousands of mission-critical industrial applications worldwide.
This article references information found on https://www.raycap.com/industrial-surge-protection/
