In the intricate power network, lightning arresters are like loyal guards, standing silently to resist lightning overvoltage and various internal overvoltages, ensuring the smooth and orderly transmission of electric current. The lightning arrester family has many members, each with its unique capabilities, jointly building an impregnable power protection system.
Zinc Oxide Lightning Arresters: The Main Force with Outstanding Performance
Zinc oxide lightning arresters can be regarded as the mainstay in the current field of lightning arresters. They use zinc oxide valve plates as the core components. Under normal conditions, these valve plates exhibit extremely high resistance, just like a strict barrier blocking the random passage of current. However, when struck by lightning or in the event of a sudden internal overvoltage in the system, they instantly switch to a low-resistance state. Lightning current or overvoltage waves can then quickly be discharged to the ground through this "green channel", effectively protecting power equipment from damage caused by high-voltage impacts.
Their advantages are significant. The response speed of their action is as fast as lightning, able to start up in nanoseconds without delay, leaving no chance for overvoltage waves. The residual voltage level is extremely low, which means that after discharging the current, the subsequent pressure left on the equipment is minimal, greatly reducing the risk of secondary damage to the equipment. In urban high-voltage power grids, zinc oxide lightning arresters are widely distributed at various key nodes in substations. Whether on the towering busbar structures or beside the precise transformers, they stand tall, providing stable support for the brightly lit cities.
Silicon Carbide Lightning Arresters: The Classic and Time-Tested Guardians
Silicon carbide lightning arresters have a profound historical background and are veterans in the field of power protection. They operate based on the characteristic that the resistance value of silicon carbide materials changes drastically under different voltages. After years of refinement, their technology is mature and reliable.
In the past, during the long period when power infrastructure construction was underdeveloped and technology was relatively limited, silicon carbide lightning arresters shouldered heavy responsibilities and protected countless power lines. Although nowadays they face competition from emerging forces like zinc oxide lightning arresters, they still hold their ground with their excellent current-carrying capacity. In some industrial areas with heavy loads, such as large steel mills and mines where the power environment is complex and the requirements for the current-carrying capacity of lightning arresters are stringent, silicon carbide lightning arresters, relying on their powerful ability to withstand overcurrents, have withstood the high-intensity current impacts caused by lightning strikes and switching overvoltages time and time again, steadily ensuring the continuous operation of production lines and becoming an indispensable key link for the reliable operation of industrial power consumption.
Expulsion-Type Lightning Arresters: Specialists for Special Scenarios
Expulsion-type lightning arresters have a unique shape and a distinctive working mode, playing an irreplaceable role in specific power environments. They are equipped with gas-generating materials inside. Under normal circumstances, they remain in an insulating state like sleeping guards. However, when lightning overvoltage strikes violently and the voltage value rises to the action threshold, the inside of the arrester is instantaneously broken down, and the gas-generating materials react rapidly to generate a large amount of gas. These gases expand rapidly in the narrow space, just like a powerful pushing force, stretching and cooling the electric arc until it is extinguished, successfully cutting off the overvoltage path.
In railway power systems, which are widely distributed and have complex and changeable environments along the lines, expulsion-type lightning arresters shine. Along the railway lines, there may be strong winds in the open fields, sandstorms, and even occasional accidental situations like birds touching the lines. Expulsion-type lightning arresters, relying on their high adaptability to complex environments and relatively simple maintenance characteristics, effectively deal with sudden lightning threats along the lines, becoming the unsung heroes behind ensuring the power safety of railway signal systems, traction power supplies, and other key links, and ensuring the safe and punctual operation of trains.
Composite Lightning Arresters: Innovative Pioneers Integrating Cutting-Edge Technologies
With the surging wave of science and technology, composite lightning arresters have emerged, gathering the essence of various advanced technologies and demonstrating powerful comprehensive protection capabilities. For example, they deeply integrate the excellent non-linear characteristics of zinc oxide valve plates with the outstanding weather resistance and anti-aging properties of new insulating materials, and also integrate intelligent monitoring modules to monitor their own operating status in real time.
In the current booming era of smart grids, composite lightning arresters have become favorites that meet the development needs of the times. In places where the continuity of power supply is extremely demanding, such as financial data centers and electronic chip manufacturing factories, they can not only build a solid security line for precision equipment with their top-notch overvoltage protection capabilities but also seamlessly connect with the automated operation and maintenance platform through the intelligent monitoring system. Once they detect any signs of potential faults, they will immediately send out accurate warnings, helping the operation and maintenance team to deploy response strategies in advance, achieving a crucial leap from passive protection to active defense and leading the power security guarantee to a new level.
All types of members in the lightning arrester family, with their respective unique advantages, play precise roles in different subdivided power fields, working together to weave a comprehensive and multi-level security protection network, safeguarding the stable operation of the global power system, resisting electrical surges and storms, and protecting a bright future.
