Search

A single-station-based lighting mapping system comprising a microphone array, which detects electromagnetic (EM) and thunder signals, has recently been developed and deployed for lightning observations. Using one microphone array consisting of 19 electret microphones installed on a 3-D steel frame, this system receives and processes the EM and thunder signals to determine the location of lightning thunder sources. We implement a new broadband direction-of-arrival estimation technique, namely, the maximum power beamforming algorithm and derive the 3-D location results based on the time difference between the acoustic signal and the EM signal. In this paper, four cloud-to-ground flashes with different branch channels recorded by the system are analyzed and presented in which the located thunder sources of two lightning flashes are compared with the photograph of the high-speed camera. The details of the system implementation along with the successful reconstruction of the lightning channel in 2-D and 3-D space are discussed. The results indicate that the location system could effectively map the lightning thunder sources, and the result is highly consistent with the high-speed video camera images. Moreover, the acoustic mapping system is capable of locating the main channel produced by the return stroke process; it also depicts the branching channels. It is shown that the system is capable of distinguish different branches of the same lightning; it also obtains different lightning channels occurring almost simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes the deconvolution method to evaluate the lightning channel-base current from the lightning magnetic field. We have verified the method using the magnetic field with/;without noises. The deconvolution results are both in good agreement with the simulated current. Also, we have discussed the deconvolution results when the condition number of the deconvolution matrix, $U_{{0}}$ , is different, and found that the deconvolution results will oscillate if the condition number of $U_{{0}}$ is very large. Note that the deconvolution method presented in this paper also works when using other engineering current models, such as transmission line (TL) model, and the modified TL model with exponential current decaying with height model, and so on. The deconvolution method is an efficient method to evaluate the lightning channel-base current from the electromagnetic field. This approach is also useful in research related to lightning characteristics and lightning protection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to solve the frequently occurring lightning flashover problems on ±500 kV dc transmission lines in China, the authors have conducted the research on the dc line arrester since 2011. In this paper, the structure and installation, technical parameters, and protection performances, as well as their deterministic processes of the arrester are presented and analyzed in detail. In 2013, the authors successfully developed the arrester products, and the type tests show that they have excellent performance parameters and can act effectively against the lightning impulse and cutoff the dc follow current. By now more than 500 dc line arresters have been installed and used on seven ±500 kV dc transmission lines in eight provinces of China. About four years of operating experience shows that the arresters work safely and reliably over a long period of time, and have been effectively reducing the lightning flashover rate of the ±500 kV dc lines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The overhead catenary system of high-speed railway, usually supported by viaducts, attracts more direct strikes than the conventional railway. However, there are ten thousands of slender steel rods in the reinforced concrete structure of viaducts. Therefore, it takes a lot of time to calculate the model of a long series of viaducts by the conventional electromagnetic field modeling method. An electromagnetic transient model for high-speed railway viaducts struck by lightning based on the decoupling method is proposed in this paper, in which the railway viaducts are divided into the box girder unit and viaduct pier unit. The viaducts model based on decoupling method (VMDM) is established by a series of box units supported by viaduct pier units at equal intervals. The equivalent circuit model of each unit was obtained by employing the vector fitting method based on the frequency-domain response. Experimental results of a newly built railway viaduct pier under lightning impulse current were presented to validate the equivalent circuit model of viaduct pier unit, which show high consistency with simulation results. In particular, the typical VMDM model of Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway viaducts was established with the proposed method. The result obtained from the VMDM model are compared with the simplified model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In order to investigate the different features of the positive leader propagation in the rod–plane and inverted rod–plane gaps, the discharge experiments in a 3-m rod–plane gap and a 3-m inverted rod–plane gap were carried out under switching impulse voltage. The positive leader propagation process was recorded by using a high-speed CCD camera. Some aspects to describe the positive leader propagation characteristics of the rod–plane and inverted rod–plane gaps are obtained and compared in this paper, including the critical corona radius, the average continuous leader inception voltage, the axial leader velocity, and the final jump length. The possible reason resulting in those differences is also discussed here. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]