Don’t Let LIGHTNING
Strike Your Business!
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Every year, it’s the same story. The
passing of winter kicks off the annual
event known as "Lightning Season".
Lightning season is inevitable and
places unprotected businesses at
risk.
In a study published in 1994 by
Texas A&M University, lightning
struck the United States over 24
million times in 1993. Ninety-eight
percent of the strikes occurred from
March to October and over seventypercent occurred during June, July
and August.
Each year, property loss from
lightning activity exceeds hundreds
of millions of dollars. This loss will
certainly rise with the increased use
of sensitive electronic and electrical
equipment in our everyday lives.
With the explosion of the computer
industry and use of computerized
In 1991, Business Week magazine
estimated that $26-billion in losses
were attributed to "dirty power"
including lightning and lightninginduced power surges. The loss
represents both direct and
associated costs due to the
phenomena.
When lightning strikes an electrical
system, distribution line or
transmission line - or even the
ground or structure near any of these
- it causes a power surge to travel
along the line away from the point
of contact. This power surge, which
can range from a few thousand
volts to hundreds of millions of
volts, often, can and does enter
nearby electrical systems. These
electrical systems include wiring,
cable television, and telephone lines.
Mobil Oil Company is one company
that has taken this approach. In
Florida, Mobil has well over 400
service stations. These stations rely
on electronic equipment such as
cash registers, product scanners,
digital fuel pumps, automatic car
washes and various telecommunication devices for their day-today operations.
Once the surge has entered the
wiring of these electrical systems,
the transient voltage surge can travel
several miles before discharging. If
the surge encounters an electronic
device along its path, the results are
often disastrous.
In the past, the Florida Mobil stations
had experienced shutdowns when
lightning struck. This occurred
frequently since Florida is the
lightning capital of the United States.
Florida experiences about 2.5 million
lightning strikes annually.
Devices at risk to surges range from
computers, telephone systems,
modems, local area networks, and
micro-controllers to automated
factory equipment such as robots,
cranes and control circuits.
Often, after a lightning strike, a
station came to a halt until the
damaged equipment could be
repaired or replaced and the
operating systems reset. It
sometimes took three or four service
calls to bring the station back online.
However, surges are often generated
by other sources besides lightning.
Many times, circuit or grid switching
by the power company creates
surges. Another source of surges
is neighboring facilities that switch
on and off large electrical loads such
as motors or manufacturing
equipment.
®
© 2001 Innovative Technology, Inc.
Whether generated by lightning or
other sources, surges are an
enormous problem. Even so, this
problem has an effective solution:
transient voltage surge
suppressors. Surge suppressors
are devices that react to and limit
the excessive voltage on the
electrical system to which they are
attached. Many companies have
found the use of surge suppression
products to be an effective method
of protecting their valuable
equipment and resources from
lightning and other voltage surges.
Looking for a solution to this trying
and expensive problem, Mobil turned
to Innovative Technology, Inc. In
1991, after evaluating the situation,
Innovative Technology® installed
Protector® products in nearly half the
locations in Florida. Since that time
service calls to the protected stations
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INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
15470 Flight Path Drive, Brooksville, FL 34604
Phone: 352-799-0713 Fax: 352-796-0316
Strike Back With Transient
Voltage Surge Suppression
(continued from from)
were significantly reduced. Also
noted, were substantial savings due
to reduced service and repair costs;
and the stations remained
operational during and after storms.
In addition, Mobil increased its
goodwill and confidence with
customers as a result of their solution
to this nagging and expensive
problem.
As levels of technology and
microprocessor integration continue
to expand into new areas, the need
for surge protection becomes more
and more evident. Devices that, in
the past, were considered electrical
devices are quickly becoming
electronic. One simple example is
the telephone. Years ago, rotary
phones were electro-mechanical
devices. These phones were rarely
damaged by electrical surges
because of their hardy nature. New
telephones are truly electronic
devices and are extremely vulnerable
to lightning and surges coming in on
the telephone line and from the wall
outlet. Other examples include
television equipment, stereo
systems, alarm systems, fire and
smoke detection systems, and, of
course, computers.
Innovative Technology, Inc.
recognizes the economic impact that
electrical surges and lightning can
have on a home or commercial
facility.
Innovative Technology® continually
strives to build awareness of these
problems with the public through its
training and seminars on these
topics. Unfortunately, many business
and commercial entities – and even
fewer consumers – are aware of the
detrimental effects of electrical
surges and lightning on today's highly
sophisticated and sensitive electronic
equipment. In the educational
seminars delivered around the
© 2001 Innovative Technology, Inc.
United States and the world by
Innovative Technology, the damaging
effects of electrical surges are
demonstrated using certified test
equipment and procedures.
Lightning and electrical surges are
a fact of life. The effects of these
powerful phenomena can be
exceedingly damaging to the
sophisticated electronic equipment
in use today. Protection from surges
and lightning exists. Businesses can
ill-afford to be without surge
suppression in today's competitive
market place. Surge protection must
be an integral part of the protection
plan for the day-to-day operations
of a business. Surge protection
provides a safeguard for your critical
equipment and systems. In
business, downtime is unacceptable.
Innovative Technology, Inc. can help
keep your business up and running.
Besides, you never know when
lightning may strike your business.
TRANSIENT VOLTAGE SURGES:
DID YOU KNOW?
A transient is a sub-cycle and
unplanned increase in the voltage
and current in an electrical system.
Transients are often referred to
as spikes or surges.
20% of all transients are
generated external to the building,
while 80% are generated by
internal events such as turning
equipment on or off.
An estimated 180,000 to 432,000
transients AN HOUR can occur
in an active industrial environment.
In one test, turning on and off one
fluorescent fixture caused 24
individual transients in excess of
1,200 volts in just millionths of a
second.
Nearly 9 out of 10 harmful power
line disturbances can be traced
to transients.
TRANSIENT VOLTAGE SURGES:
You might have surge
problems if. . .
Programming in microprocessor
based equipment sometimes fails
or malfunctions.
Electronic circuit boards “wear
out” and have to be replaced.
Electrical equipment seems to
have a shorter useful life
expectancy than previous
equipment.
Computers or controllers lose
memory during operation.
The telephone system
disconnects calls for no apparent
reason.
The supply room is stocking large
inventories of circuit boards,
contacters, lighting tubes, ballast
units, electric motor parts or fuses.
Fluorescent lights have a very
short life.
There are computer and modem
failures during storms.
The Earth grounding system is
not properly tested annually for
safety and quality.
Contact us at 800-647-8877 for an international representative near you
OR VISIT US ON THE WEB AT
WWW.ITVSS.COM
®
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
15470 Flight Path Drive, Brooksville, FL 34604
Phone: 352-799-0713 Fax: 352-796-0316