Improvement of Measurements of Lightning Currents Circulating Through the Line Surge Arresters and Transmission Towers

Abstract Due to the improved surge arresters’ technology and their low cost and simple installation, there is an increasing number of Line Surge Arresters (LSA) application to the overhead lines installed with the aim to improve the lightning protection of the lines and reduce the outage rate due to the lightning. In order to protect the overhead line from lightning it is advisable to know how does the lightning waveshape look like: what is the peak lightning current; maximum current steepness; charge transfer and specific energy. The experimental system for the measurement of lightning current circulating in line surge arresters and through the transmission line tower was installed on the 110 kV transmission line tower. It is equipped with the real-time monitoring and acquisition system for measuring the amplitude and shape of the currents through surge arresters and the overhead line tower. The newly designed system is based on the state-of-the-art in terms of measuring sensors, communication, and information technologies. The lightning current measuring system is equipped with the custom developed software, which will enable the system to download the data from the measuring device, to process the data and to transfer the data automatically to the cloud. The measuring system’s components are chosen according to the specific parameters of the lightning current. The knowledge gained from the measured data will help to define more precisely the procedures to be followed in engineering projects and to specify the phases and towers where line surge arresters have to be installed. On another level, the exploitation of several sources of information simultaneously will help to identify the way to take the maximum possible advantage of the data provided by the lightning detection system.