Industrial surge protection systems are a critical component to keeping many of the things functioning that consumers rely upon everyday. When doing simple tasks like connecting a call on a cell phone or using electricity generated using green technology, we often have surge protection devices to thank for those systems continuing to function to the point that we can forget what it would be like if these systems did not function. These industrial systems have become so reliable that we rarely even realize what goes into the technology in our pockets or within our homes and businesses. We may even get annoyed if there are minor interruptions in services. We should all take a step back to think about what is happening when we look at our cell phones or turn on the lights in our houses, and appreciate the technology operating in the background to make our lives easier.
One of the biggest natural threats to continuous operation of cellular systems and green energy production is lightning. This is because lightning not only causes damage to anything it strikes, but is also produces a large power surge that causes damage even some distance from the strike point. When a cellular tower or a wind turbine is struck by lightning, there will be an explosion and possibly a fire at the point of the strike. If the damage was isolated to that strike point, operation of these types of businesses would be significantly cheaper. But the electrical surge that follows a lightning strike will travel along anything that can act as a conductor, ranging from wires and cables to structural elements of buildings. The electrical current can flow along these mediums for great distances, and because the equipment or connection cables that are at the strike point are connected to equipment some distance away, it means that it is difficult to protect even equipment that is not in the direct path of typical lightning. This causes multiple-times the damage replacement costs every time a lightning strike incident occurs.
Businesses under threat from natural weather occurrences like lightning strikes will generally utilize some form of surge protection systems in order to provide as much protection as possible from the damage that is caused by lightning strikes and surges. The lightning strikes themselves are difficult to prevent entirely, and the use of overhead shielding and diversionary devices like lightning rods will only provide some protection. The surges that follow the lighting strikes are more able to be prevented from flowing past the strike point and damaging other equipment through the use of technologically advanced surge protection devices. These devices have evolved over the years past the point of being simple gapping mechanisms to being able to almost instantaneously stop or divert the flow of electricity if a threat is detected. The more evolved surge protection solutions will be able to restore functionality almost immediately, eliminating the necessity for replacing or resetting the devices themselves. Surge protection for lightning is critical for today’s modern industries, and companies considering surge protection for mission critical applications such as telecom or energy should always look for the most robust surge protection available in order to reduce operating expenditures down the road.
