A Field Study of Lightning Surges Propagating Into Residences

Abstract

In the highly information-based society of today, lightning damage to home electric appliances, such as personal computers and facsimile machines is having a greater impact, indicating a growing public interest in countermeasures for lightning. However, many things remain unknown about lightning surges that propagate into residences. The Tokyo Electric Power Company had observed the patterns of intrusion of lightning surges into residences using lightning surge waveform detectors installed at ordinary residences and obtained observation data on 18 lightning strokes between 2003 and 2006. These observation results can be used to examine the patterns of propagation of lightning surges into residences. In some observation cases of lightning strokes to the ground, lightning surge currents were estimated to flow from the ground into residences. These valuable data will be useful for elucidating the lightning surge propagation in the low-voltage distribution system including residences.