When Lightning Crashes, Your System Could Fry
NexTek has nearly 30 years of experience providing Lightning Protection for a large variety of applications. In the 1990s, NexTek began to focus on providing high performance Coaxial Lightning Arrestors which provide protection against lightning damage for RF transmit and receive applications.
Anywhere there is a cable or antenna installed outside, there is a threat of lightning energy attaching itself to the cable and causing potentially catastrophic damage to cables, transceivers and other electronic equipment, and even operators. Lightning energy can flow down any type of conductor, and it is critical to remove Lightning energy from the cable run where it enters a shelter, building, or vehicle.
With the ongoing proliferation of wireless communications devices across all types of systems and industries, Coaxial Lightning arrestors are required for more and more applications.
Lightning strikes can contain upwards of 200,000 Amperes of current, but most are within the 10,000 to 100,000 Ampere range. NexTek’s coaxial arrestor designs are built to exacting standards, with Surge Current Ratings and Surge Response Ratings that are equal or better than other available types.
This test was evaluating gas discharge tubes. The wire bundle at the top brought in 100kA of 8x20us, driven by over 80kV. There are two stages of brass plates, which straddle gas discharge tubes. A wire basket connects the two stages, for low impedance; and a wire bundle connects to ground on the lower side. The flashes seen are the GDT’s arcing at their attachment points, or failing. Not all gas discharge tubes handle overcurrent conditions in the same way.
NexTek retains in-house Lightning Simulation Testing capabilities according to the commonly used 1.2x50us/8x20us waveforms up to the 6kV/3kA level. NexTek also regularly conducts full-scale Lightning Testing to verify every design’s ultimate Surge Current & Lifetime ratings.
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