THE IMPORTANCE OF LV SURGE ARRESTER SYSTEMS IN INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES!

Industrial facilities must have unique equipment combinations, suitable geographical locations, and lightning and sudden overvoltage protection systems in order to operate at the widest potential and ensure sustainable production. In this period when we have transitioned to Industry 4.0, the need to protect systems has increased even further. Weaknesses in lightning protection systems increase operational costs and lead to customer losses; if damage to the facility due to lightning is repeated several times, a serious loss of image is likely. The ongoing activities of a facility may consist of a certain number of products or services used by the public or private sector, and the pricing of these products and services is directly dependent on the quantities that can be produced within a given time period. Interruptions or stoppages within the facility may create situations that result in missed targets or service disruptions, leading to higher costs or customer losses. When combined with the obligation to restore functionality, equipment repair costs, and productive hours, business margins generally shrink every year. The competitive environment in almost every business sector requires operational costs to be reduced as much as possible. The shutdown of a facility due to lightning and sudden overvoltage impulses, the inability to operate, the inability to produce, and the burning of devices bring serious additional costs. The occurrence of this situation more than once within a year, which is within the realm of possibility, causes serious losses.

Especially in facilities located in organized industrial zones, we encounter serious interruptions and device damages due to electrical fluctuations. This situation can occur very late at night in facilities operating 24 hours a day, causing cards to burn and systems to be disabled. The losses here result in losses of time, planning, targets, customers, image, and most importantly money.

In addition to sudden overvoltage impulses, we have witnessed some facilities being out of operation for weeks due to a lightning strike hitting the facility. The most risky situation here is the potential fire risk, where all efforts can be destroyed in a second.

In our country, lightning rod systems that come to mind when it comes to lightning protection are unfortunately not sufficient for the correct protection of industrial facilities. On the contrary, they create more risk. An industrial facility should primarily be protected with Low Voltage Surge Arrester systems. And this LV Surge Arrester design must be carried out in accordance with the IEC 62305 Standard. This design should be implemented with the right products based on the principle of staged protection. Protection should be provided from power lines to the most sensitive PLC systems. Especially climatic changes have significantly increased the risk. In our country, 7.5 million lightning strikes have occurred in 2.5 years. We witness thousands of lightning strikes hitting the same region in just one day. In such an environment, not protecting our facility is nothing short of madness.

However, in addition to lightning strikes, sudden fluctuations caused by grid loadings are also a serious problem especially for organized industrial zones. And Low Voltage Surge Arrester systems must definitely be used!

As Yılkomer, in the damages reported to us, we encounter both the same deficiencies and the same incorrect protection problems, and as a result of these problems, we detect serious damages. Our biggest goal is to protect facilities before they are damaged; therefore, we want to carry out awareness activities as much as possible.

Our global partner Raycap offers serious solutions for the protection of industrial systems. As Yılkomer, we strive to combine these quality products with our engineering and provide designs that will ensure complete 100% protection for factories and production areas.

With Yılkomer’s ‘PROTECT YOUR FACILITY AGAINST LIGHTNING NOW, NOT WHEN IT IS TOO LATE’ Campaign, you can benefit from our free site survey campaign in the Autumn 2018 period. You can apply using the link below!