How To Protect Your Industrial Business From Natural Damage

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If you are involved from an ownership or management position within a business that operates in an industrial capacity, you already are aware of the challenges that operating in this capacity pose. The critical nature of an industrial facility, coupled with an incredible amount of heavy machinery that must be kept online, we often find that the care and maintenance of this equipment must always include ways to keep the equipment from being damaged by weather events such as lightning strikes and surges. In any situation, the more protection that can be given to components will result in longer average operational life spans, so finding new and innovative ways to shield that equipment from harm is almost always a priority for businesses that operate this way. While this might not be able to be accomplished when speaking of building structures, in many cases the equipment is extremely exposed in the first place, as in the case of cell towers, wind turbines or solar farms, and there are other ways to provide shielding aspects, and help to prevent damage. In the case of a wind turbine or solar panel, the need for these to remain both exposed and unobstructed in order to function properly is a consideration, yet there are ways to make sure that this equipment is not damaged by weather events. While you might not be able to stop the rain from falling on those components, you can prevent damage from occurring as a result of lightning strikes.

Lightning is one of the main problems at exposed industrial facilities and leads to some of the biggest expenditures with regard to repair and restoration of functionality. Lightning hits the exposed equipment and destroys it, which in most cases would mean that the end unit components would need to be repaired or replaced. The issues arise when equipment is connected further away, and is damaged as a result of the surge coming from the same strike. Lightning produces a power surge that travels along any conductive element, moving from the strike point towards earth. It will overwhelm almost any circuit driven component along this path and cause it to also need repair or replacement. Due to the need for connecting these end units to control equipment farther away, we find that a single lightning strike can cause a huge amount of damage even great distances from the point it hits, requiring replacement and restoration to functionality in order to continue business. This is why the integration of surge protection devices along the potential pathways where surges can travel is so critical, and poses a technological solution to protecting equipment in the field. Surge protection devices serve as the barriers against power surge damage produced by these natural events, and can ultimately save businesses millions of dollars each time a strike occurs. Couple this with the fact that prevention of damage makes the restoration to functionality able to happen faster, and you have a method of protecting the business bottom line that looks very attractive.