Lightning Arresters
The circuit which is protected from the strokes of
lightning with the help of a protection device is known as
lightning arrester. Here the lightning strokes are nothing but
surges with high transient voltage, arcs of isolation, spark, and
surge currents because of lightning, etc. These devices are used
to defend the power systems by forwarding the high voltage
surges in the direction of the ground. And these power systems
and over headlines can also be protected by using ground wire
or the earthing from the direct strikes of lightning. The selection
of arrester depends on the various factors like voltage, current,
reliability, etc.
These types are;
1. Road Gap Arrester
2. Sphere Gap Arrester
3. Horn Gap Arrester
4. Expulsion Type Lightning Arrester
5. Valve Type Lightning Arresters
1. Rod Gap Arrester
It is one of the simplest forms of the arrester. In such type of arrester,
there is an air gap between the ends of two rods. The one end of the
arrester is connected to the line and the second end of the rod is
connected to the ground. The gap setting of the arrester should be such
that it should break before the damage. When the high voltage occurs
on the line, the gap sparks and the fault current passes to the earth.
Hence the equipment is protected from damage. The difficulty with the
rod arrester is that once the spark having taken place it may continue
for some time even at low voltages. To avoid it a current limiting
reactor in series with the rod is used. The resistance limits the current
to such an extent that it is sufficient to maintain the arc. Another
difficulty with the road gap is that the rod gap is liable to be damaged
due to the high temperature of the arc which may cause the rod to melt.
2. Sphere Gap Arrester
In such type of devices, the air gap is provided between two different spheres. One of the
spheres is connected to the line, and the other sphere is connected to the ground. The spacing
between the two spheres is very small. A choking coil is inserted between the phase winding
of the transformer and spheres and is connected to the [Link] air gap between the arrester is
set in such a way so that the discharge must not take place at normal operating condition. The
arc will travel up the sphere as the heated air near the arc tend to rise upward and lengthening
till it is interrupted automatically.
3. Horn Gap Arrester
It consists of two horns shaded piece of metal separated
by a small air gap and connected in shunt between each
conductor and earth. The distance between the two
electrodes is such that the normal voltage between the
line and earth is insufficient to jump the gap. But the
abnormal high voltage will break the gap and so find a
path to earth.
Expulsion Type Lightning Arrester
Expulsion type arrester is an improvement over
the rod gap in that it seals the flow of power frequency
follows the current. This arrester consists of a tube made
up of fibre which is very effective, isolating spark gap
and an interrupting spark gap inside the fibre tube.
During operation, the arc due to the impulse spark over
inside the fibrous tube causes some fibrous material of
the tube to volatile in the form of the gas, which is
expelled through a vent from the bottom of the tube.
Thus, extinguishing the arc just like in circuit breakers.
Valve Type Lightning Arrester
Such type of resistor is called nonlinear diverter. It essentially consists a divided spark gap in
series with a resistance element having the nonlinear characteristic. The divided spark gap
consists of some identical elements coupled in series. Each of them consists two electrodes
with the pre-ionization device. Between each element, a grading resistor of high ohmic value
is connected in parallel. During the slow
voltage variations, there is no sparks-over
across the gap. But when the rapid change in
voltage occurs, the potential is no longer
evenly graded across the series gap. The
influence of unbalancing capacitance
between the sparks gaps and the ground
prevails over the grounded resistance. The
impulse voltage is mainly concentrated on
the upper spark gap which in spark over
cause the complete arrester to spark over to.
STANDARD : Arrestors shall conform in general to IEC-99-4 document or its latest
amendment and IS/IEC as follows:
i) IEC-99-4 : Gapless Lightning Arrestor
ii) IS 3070 P-III : Metal Oxide Surge Arrestors without gaps for AC Systems.
iii) IEC 99 P-III : Artificial Pollution Testing of Lightning Arrestor
Advantages
• Property damage can be reduced from strokes of lighting.
• Outdoor equipment of the substation can be protected
• Avoid damage in lines
• Outlet surges can be avoided
• Simple to use
Disadvantages
• It occupies more space
• The installation cost is high.
Lightning Arrester Surge Arrester
The installation of a lightning arrestor can be done The installation of surge arrestors can be done within
outside of the panel board. the panel board.
The main function of this arrester is to protect the
apparatus from the outer surface. The main function of this arrester is to protect the
apparatus from inside
This arrester is mostly used for lightning strikes as
well as linked surges. This arrester defends the system from switching,
lightning, surges, transient voltage & electrical faults.
This kind of arrester redirects the flow of current to
the ground throughout the arrester device to the This kind of arrester interrupts the surges transmits
ground. surplus energy toward the ground wire.
The types of surge arrestors are distribution, low-
The types of lightning arresters are rod, sphere, voltage, station, DC, neutral protection, fiber tube,
horn, multi gap, electrolyte, and metal oxide. signal, network, etc.
This arrester cannot be used as a surge arrestor This arrester can be used as a surge arrester.