Everyday life is increasingly determined by electrical systems, facilities and devices. At the same time, the degree of networking between individual devices and equipment is also increasing, whether on the basis of electrical energy supply or for the exchange of data and information. This applies both to complex processes in industrial plants and to individual end users in the commercial sector and in private households.
More complex energy and data networks
With the new concepts (regenerative energy generation, e-cars, intelligent house, smart grid), the complexity of energy and data networks continues to increase. In addition, due to global warming, thunderstorm intensity is expected to increase, which will increase the probability of lightning damage and the extent of damage.
In particular, transient disturbance variables are most severely caused by lightning, but can also be caused to a lesser extent by processes in neighbouring electrical equipment. In the case of lightning discharges, there are also the direct thermal, mechanical and electrical effects, which can cause direct damage to structural installations, to equipment for energy and information transmission and also endanger people.
Research into new protection solutions
In order to reduce damage and hazards, protective devices and concepts against direct lightning effects as well as against conducted and field-bound disturbance variables are to be further developed and made more efficient.
The Group for Lightning and Surge Protection at the Thuringian Energy Research Institute of the TU Ilmenau (ThEFI) has set itself the task of investigating the protective effect of existing concepts and protective devices and developing the basis for new protective solutions.
The fourteenth Lightning Protection Conference of the VDE Committee for Lightning Protection and Lightning Research (VDE ABB) took place in October under the direction of Prof. Michael Rock, Head of Lightning and Search Protection at the TU Ilmenau. At the online conference, 156 experts exchanged views on future-oriented topics such as digitalization in lightning protection, the contact voltage in personal lightning protection or the further development in standardization for surge protection. To the conference report
