Extremely high lightning currents a newly designed surge generator and some practical applications

The paper describes the simulation of extremely high lightning currents by means of a newly designed twin crowbar spark gap lightning current generator. Extremely high lightning currents up to 400 kA 10/350 μs can be generated. For the simulation of these high lightning currents, a parallel connection of two capacitive surge current generators with crowbar spark gap has been realized. This test generator can also produce multiple impulse currents with high peak currents and corresponding high charge transfer. It is also shown how to simulate in the laboratory high peak currents and long continuous currents in one combined test current. Direct effect lightning current testing to simulate the effects of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes is demonstrated on various practical applications such as air-termination systems, down conductors and connection components for LPL I and above. Furthermore, a high current test on surge protective devices (SPDs) for extreme installation conditions is shown. Finally, the test generator also enables high-current impulse testing of test objects with relatively high impedances such as wind turbine rotor blade samples.