Lightning Protection Safety Certification Ul Mark Core Components Lightning Rods, Metal Conductors, Ground Electrodes Application Scope Buildings, Structures, And Modern Electrical

Industry: Automobile Industries

A lightning protection system is a system designed to protect a structure from damage due to lightning strikes by intercepting such strikes and safely passing their extremely high voltage currents to "ground". Most lightning protection systems include a network of lightning rods, metal conductors, and ground electrodes designed to provide a low resistance path to ground for potential strikes.

Lightning protection systems are used to lessen damage to structures by lightning strikes. Lightning protection systems mitigate the fire hazard which lightning poses to structures. A lightning protection system provides a low-impedance path for the lightning current to lessen the heating effect of current flowing through flammable structural materials. Porous, water-saturated materials may literally explode if their water content is flashed to steam by heat produced from lightning current.

Why You Need Lightning Protection:

Lightning protection systems have changed drastically since Benjamin Franklin first invented lighting rods in 1752. Today's systems must protect modern appliances, electrical systems and building constructions - they have to keep up with tile changing requirements of modern technology.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) keeps up with these changes. Our experience in the safety testing field has earned UL worldwide recognition and respect. jurisdictional authorities, government agencies, insurance representatives and consumers alike have looked for the UL Mark on products and systems for almost100 years. When you see the Mark, it means that the product or system on which it appears compares with UL's internationally recognized Standards for Safety.

In the lighting protection field, UL has been serving home and building owners since 1908. Today, UL has a large number of trained lighting protection field representatives located throughout tile United States. UL inspects sites ranging from cow barns to missile silos, front golf Course shelters to high-rise building systems. In fact, some of the most famous buildings in the world are protected by UL Master Labeled lightning protection systems, including the White House, the Sears Tower and the Washington Monument.

The Need for Lightning Protection:

Lightning can strike anywhere on earth - event the North and South Poles! In any U.S. geographical location, lightning storms occur as few as five times or as many as 100 times per year. The Northeast United States has the most violent thunderstorms in the country because of the area's extremely high earth resistivity. High earth resistivity (the earth's resistance to conduct current) increases the potential of a lightning strike. If struck, structures in these areas will generally sustain more damage when there is no lightning protection system present.

Each year, thousands of homes and other properties are damaged or destroyed by lightning. It accounts for more than a quarter billion dollars in property damage annually in the United States. Lightning is responsible for more deaths and property loss than tornadoes, hurricanes and floods combined, but of these violent forces of nature, lightning is the only one we call economically afford to protect ourselves against.

How a Lightning Protection System Works:

Lightning is the visible discharge of static electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between tile earth and a cloud. Scientists still do not fully understand what causes lightning, but most experts believe that different kinds of ice interact in a cloud.