Lightning Protection

International Pty Ltd

ABN: 11 099 190 897

Complex #1, 16
Mertonvale Circuit, Kingston • LPI HVSC Down-Conductor
Tasmania 7050, Australia
©Copyright 2003, LPI
P.O. Box 678,
Sandy Bay, Tasmania 7006,
Australia
Introduction
Phone: Lightning Protection International offer the High Voltage
+61 3 6227 1955 Shielded Cable (HVSC) down-conductor as a safe and reliable
+61 3 6227 1944 method of conveying the extremely high currents that result from
a lightning strike. The HVSC cable is used between an air
terminal and the earthing system. The HVSC concept offers
Fax: advantages in that it enables the diversion of the bulk of lightning
+61 (0) 3 6229 1900 current away from other conductors which otherwise would pick
up transients through induction. The HVSC concept also diverts
a much larger percentage of current away from the structure that
Email: is to be protected than conventional down-conductor systems.
info@lpi.com.au The HVSC concept also has advantages in terms of installation
as a much smaller number of conductors need be installed. The
HVSC concept has safety advantages as the number of
Web: personnel exclusion zones required on approach of a lightning
storm is also reduced. The HVSC concept also has aesthetic
www.lpi.com.au advantages, as the structure need not be covered in a large
number of bare conductors

Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd forms “Partnerships” with our

customers to provide complete lightning, surge and grounding solutions.
Our core competence is the ability to consistently deliver superior
performance, quality and value to customers in a broad range of market
segments.

An LPI® ENDORSEMENT labeled product or solution confirms our

assurance of a long-term partnership with our customers and endorses
the product quality and performance. All products offered by LPI come
with quality endorsement and compliance with International standards
and bodies wherever possible.
Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

Lightning Protection System

The HVSC down-conductor forms one part of a direct strike lightning protection system. A lightning
protection system will typically consist of an air terminal such as a conventional Franklin rod or LPI
Controlled Advanced Triggering CAT air terminal, a down-conductor and a low impedance earth system.
The earth system will normally consist of a number of buried earth rods and horizontal conductors with LPI
Ground Resistance Improvement Powder (GRIP) applied to soil to further lower soil resistivity.

The air terminal or terminals are placed at strategic points either on or nearby the structure to be protected.
Placement is made such that lightning strikes the terminal rather than the structure. Once struck a very fast
flow of charge occurs between the lightning cloud and ground through the down-conductor. The lightning
current flows through the earth system and the charge is dissipated safely into the ground. All three
components of the system must work together to avoid damage to the structure or its contents through fire
or electro-mechanical failure. A direct strike protection system is also used in combination with surge
protection devices to avoid disruption of electrical and electronic equipment in the area and to prevent
injury and death to personnel.

Down Conductors
The purpose of the down conductor is to safely conduct the very large currents that occur with lightning.
The down-conductor must provide a low impedance conductive path for the range of current wave-shapes
that naturally occur in the lightning stroke. Low impedance must be achieved to minimise the voltage
developed between the top and bottom of the cable. The down-conductor must have low resistance but also
importantly high frequency impedance. In particular, down-conductor inductance is important due to the
very high rise times of typical lightning current wave-shapes.

Voltage across the down-conductor cable must be minimised so that the amount of current that flows
through the structure that is to be protected is minimised. No economical down-conductor system has been
found which completely eliminates current flow in the structure, however the HVSC concept reduces this
current to a much lower percentage than conventional down-conductor systems.

Conventional Down-Conductor Systems

The installation of a conventional down-conductor system generally consists of 2 or more down-conductors
connected to air terminals with the down-conductors in turn connected to a dedicated lightning earth. Often
the conductors will be a solid copper strip, however other metals are utilized in varying configurations such
as braided or stranded cable. Where the building structure is constructed from continuous sections of metal,
the building structure may also be used as a means of down-conductor.

Generally the down conductors will be electrically bonded to the building. Where conventional tapes and
cables are used a significant portion of the lightning current flows in multiple paths through the building
structure. Inevitably this leads to very large currents flowing near electrical and communications cables
within the building.

As a result of large currents flowing in the structure near to parallel cables, transient currents and voltages
are induced onto these cables through inductive and capacitive coupling. This can lead to damage of
connected equipment and possibly electric shock to persons in the building.

In some instances conventional down-conductors may be purposely insulated from the building. This is
often done in an attempt to avoid the above mentioned problems. However the insulation methods used are
rarely sufficient to avoid flashover to the building in the event of a lightning strike.

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Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

The HVSC Down-Conductor

The purpose of the High Voltage Shielded Cable concept is to minimise lightning induced transients
occurring in sensitive areas. The HVSC concept allows flexibility in placement of the down-conductors,
allowing diversion of lightning currents away from sensitive services. The HVSC concept results in a far
reduced percentage of lightning current flowing through the structure to be protected. Note: Despite
manufacturers claims no currently available down-conductor system completely eliminates current flow
within the structure.

Construction
The HVSC cable is constructed with an annular central conductor surrounded by thick high voltage
insulation, a concentric conductive screen and another layer of high voltage insulation. An annular central
conductor is used to maximise efficient use of copper, to keep weight down and reduce cost. The annular
shape maximises use of copper in the presence of skin effects. Thick high voltage insulation is used to
prevent flashover from the central conductor to the conductive screen or to the building structure. The
conductive screen is bonded to the earthing system on installation, but is insulated from the air terminal.
With this connection arrangement electric fields at the structure are reduced, helping to prevent flashover.
The second layer of insulation is provided to prevent flashover from the screen to the building structure.

The central conductor of the HVSC cable has high cross-sectional area to minimise resistance and to avoid
excessive temperature rise. Low resistance helps to minimise voltage build up over the cables length. Low
resistance keeps heating to a minimum. High cross-sectional area ensures there is sufficient bulk to be
heated before excessive temperatures occur. High temperatures might otherwise damage the cable
insulation.

Figure 1 Cable Cross-section

Lightning Characteristics
The voltages generated by lightning can be immense, because of this there is nothing to be gained by trying
to impede lightning currents. Any attempt to impede current flow only results in rapid voltage building and
subsequent flashover until another current path is found. Often this will have catastrophic results. It is for
these reasons that lightning needs to be treated as a current source and voltages minimised by minimising
all impedance in the path to ground.

Most lightning occurs with multiple strokes or pulses of current. A flickering of the lightning bolt can be
seen by the naked eye, which correspond to these pulses. The lightning current pulses build up very quickly
to a peak value then decay relatively slowly as per the diagrams below. There is generally a relatively long
gap between pulses where the current drops to a much lower value. The peak values of these current pulses
are extremely high compared to other electrical systems. They are generally considerably higher then
currents seen in power generation. Median peak current for the first stroke is in the order of 30,000A.
These high peak currents present a number of problems for down-conductor design.

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Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

Figure 2 Lightning pulse current waveshape

Not only are the peak currents extremely high but also the rate of current build up is extremely high. When
multiple stroke lightning occurs the current build up in subsequent strokes is even more severe. Median
maximum current rise for subsequent strokes is in the order of 45 000 000 000 A/s. As a result very small
amounts of inductance in a down-conductor can result in very high voltages.

The total length of a lightning current flash or strike, which includes multiple strokes, is quite short, even
with the largest multiple stroke discharge the process is generally over within a second. The individual
stroke pulses are much shorter still. The stroke pulses generally fall well below half their peak value in well
under a millisecond. However considerable energy can be dissipated even in very low resistance cables in a
very short time due to the high peaks involved. For example a typical lightning strike might generate
100,000 J of energy in a 20ohm resistor. This is enough energy to heat a cup of water to boiling point with
the majority of the heating being done in less than 1 millisecond. Fortunately cable resistance is kept well
below this figure.

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Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

Lightning Parameter Frequency Distribution

When designing a down-conductor we need to consider not only the median values of peak current and
current rise but also the distribution of values. It is not always practical to design for maximum values, as
there are no hard limits to lightning. Allowing for all lightning would also result in an impractically
expensive system. The table below shows figures from Australian Standard AS1768: 1991, similar figures
are found in other lightning protection standards.

Table 1 Lightning Frequency Distributions

Australian Standard AS1768:1991 TABLE A1
"Summary of the frequency distributions of the main characteristics of the lightning flash to ground"

Lightning Percentage of events having value of characteristic greater than value shown below (see note 1)
Characteristic 99 90 75 50 25 10 1 Unit
Number of
common strokes 1 1 2 3 5 7 12 -
Time interval
between strokes 10 25 35 55 90 150 400 ms
First stroke peak
current Imax. 5 12 20 30 50 80 130 kA
Subsequent stroke
peak current Imax. 3 6 10 15 20 30 40 kA
First stroke
(di/dt)max. 6 10 15 25 30 40 70 GA/s
Subsequent stroke
(di/dt)max. 6 15 25 45 80 100 200 GA/s
Total charge
1 3 6 15 40 70 200 C
Continuing current
charge 6 10 20 30 40 70 100 C
Continuing current
Imax. 30 50 80 100 150 200 400 A
Overall duration of
flash 50 100 250 400 600 900 1500 ms
Action integral (see
2
Note 2) 100 300 1000 5000 30000 100000 500000 A .s

Notes:
1 The values shown in this Table have been derived from a number of sources, and have been rounded in accordance
with the accuracy with which these data are known.

2
2 The action integral, defined as the integral of I dt for the whole flash, is equivalent to the energy deposited in a one
ohm resistor by the passage of the entire current for the duration of the flash.

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Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

First Stroke vs. Subsequent Strokes

As mentioned earlier two of the key characteristics of lightning for down-conductor design are peak current
and rate of current rise. As can be seen from the table above these key characteristics are quite different for
the first stroke compared to subsequent strokes. We need to treat each case separately.

Figure 3 Comparison of first stroke vs. subsequent stroke waveshape

Designing for First Stroke

As seen above the peak current of the first stroke is generally double or more that of subsequent strokes.
Conversely the rate of current rise is lower. The critical area for most down conductor systems is the area
between where the peak rate of rise occurs and where the peak current occurs. These points are shown in the
diagram below. In designing the down conductor we need to consider what point in the current wave will
cause the highest voltage across the insulation of the down-conductor.

Figure 4 Critical area for cable design

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Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

The impedance of the cable in this area of the current pulse is largely dominated by the inductance and
resistance and is given by the equation below.

V = I . R + L . di/dt,
Where R is cable resistance, L is installed inductance and di/dt is the rate of current rise.

Cable inductance is dependent on where it is installed. In particular materials in the building close to the
cable have effect. However with typical installed inductance and cable resistance in the order of
0.3ohm/km. We can show the critical point and calculate the maximum voltage developed.

Traveling wave effects need also be considered however for typical cable lengths the wave returns well
before the peak occurs. So reflected waves will not add substantially to the peak voltage.

Designing for Subsequent Strokes

From Table 1 we can see that subsequent strokes have lower peak currents than first strokes but the
maximum rate of current rise can be double or more. In this case peak voltage is determined in a similar
matter however the point of peak voltage is much closer to the point of maximum voltage rise and
inductance has a far more dominant effect.

Cable Insulation
The insulation between the inner conductors needs to withstand the maximum voltage determined above.
The electric field that results from this voltage, for the HVSC cable, is given by the following equation.

Emax = V/(r.ln(R/r))
Where V is the voltage, R is the radial distance of the screen from the centre, r is the radial distance of the
outer edge of the central conductor.

Capacitance
C= 2πε/(ln[R/r])
ε
Where = permittivity of insulator between the conductors (=~2.3 x 8. 85x10-12 for XLPE), R is the radius
of thee screen, r is the radius of the inner conductor.

Hence, HVSC given R= 13.7, r=7.5,

C= 212pF/m
Some companies claim that high capacitance between the inner and outer conductors of an insulated cable
are of benefit in minimising voltage developed across the cable. This is true but the benefit is minimal as
the capacitance is very low and the inductance of the outer conductor or sheath is only slightly lower than
that of the inner. More importantly to achieve higher capacitance manufacturers are forced to lower the
thickness of insulation between the inner and outer conductors, which is detrimental to flashover resistance.
Also if it were true and significant proportions of current flowed in the screen then the voltage screening
ability would be negated.

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Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

Inductance
Many insulated down-conductors are constructed in identical fashion to a high voltage coaxial cable. This
has led many to adopt calculating inductance in the way it would be done for a coaxial cable, using the
following equation.

L= µ/(2π).ln(R/r)

Where µ= permeability of insulator between which for most insulators is = 4π.10-7, R is the radius of thee
screen, r is the radius of the inner conductor.

Based on the above equation, the Inductance of the HVSC cable works out to be L = 25nH/m

Characteristic Impedance
_____
Characteristic Impedance Zo= v (L/C) where L = 25nH/m and C = 212 pF/m
____________________
Zo= v (25,000 H/m / 212 pF/m)

Zo = 10.89 Ohm’s

Earth System Impedance

The down-conductor of any lightning system should be bonded (electrically connected) to the protective
earth system of the structure as well as the dedicated low impedance lightning protection earth system. This
practice is important for any down-conductor system. This will minimise the potential for flashover
between the down-conductor and the structure. For conventional systems that are already bonded to the
structure this practice will still help by minimising current through the structure. The reason this is good
practice is that if not bonded directly the voltage between the top of the down-conductor and the building is
influenced by the earth system impedance as well as the down-conductor impedance. See diagram below.

Figure 5 Bonding of LP and Protective Earths

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Lightning Protection International Pty Ltd. ABN 11 099 190 897
Tasmania 7050, Australia

If we keep our bond reasonably short and we assume most current is dissipated in the LP earth rather than
the protective earth, then we can assume negligible voltage across the bond. Given this assumption:

With the bond in place, the voltage difference seen between the top of the down conductor and the
structure:
VDS= I(t) x ZD, where I(t) is the lightning current, ZD is down conductor impedance
or more precisely VDS = I x RD + di/dt x LD

With the bond removed

VDS= I(t) x (ZD + ZLP) where ZLP is the lightning protection earth impedance
or more precisely VDS = I x (RD + RLP)+ di/dt x (LD + LLP)

We must note that earth system impedance is likely to be higher than down conductor impedance, hence
bonding is a very important part of installation. As per good earthing practice there should be a single
bonding point between outside earthing and the protective earth within the building to minimise current
flows through the building.

Summary:

The LPI HVSC cable provides many advantages compared to conventional down conductor systems.

• Low impedance with high flashover resistance

• Minimised current flow through structure

• Flexibility to position away from sensitive services

• Minimised safety exclusion zones

• Aesthetic advantages through minimising the number of external cables

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