Abstract
When the nacelle of a wind turbine is struck by lightning, lightning electromagnetic pulse (LEMP) is generated inside the nacelle and consequently impacts inside electronic devices or even seriously destroys them. In order to study the LEMP inside the nacelle, this paper firstly built a full-scale model of a non-metallic nacelle. The lightning electromagnetic environment in the nacelle was simulated and analyzed by the transmission-line matrix method. Then the protective measures of applying metallic shielding mesh on the nacelle were studied, including the mesh size and material of the shielding mesh on the protective effect. The results show that LEMP in the nacelle can be effectively attenuated by metallic shielding meshes. The shielding effect is highly dependent on the conductivity of the shielding mesh material and the mesh size.
Highlights
Lightning is a large-scale discharge phenomenon between cloud and cloud or between cloud and ground, as a natural typical electromagnetic hazard source [1,2]
Lightning strike is an important threat to the safe operation of wind turbine generators [5]
When the transmission-line matrix method (TLM) method is used to solve the distribution of electromagnetic field in medium, the medium characteristics are replaced by the TLM matrix, which is composed of intersections of transmission lines after spatial discretization
Summary
Lightning is a large-scale discharge phenomenon between cloud and cloud or between cloud and ground, as a natural typical electromagnetic hazard source [1,2]. When cloud-to-ground lightning happens, the lightning channel carries hundreds of thousand Ampere current and the rate of rise-time is tens of thousands A/μs This generates a great thermal effect, dynamic effect and EM effect on sensitive electrical and electronic equipment [3,4]. Due to the electromagnetic coupling effect, surges are induced in the electronic equipment and cables in the nacelle, which leads to the malfunction or damage of the nacelle equipment, affecting the safe operation of wind turbines. In order to reduce the weight and cost of nacelles, composite non-metallic materials, such as GFRP (glass fiber reinforced plastics) are widely used as the enclosure of modern wind turbine nacelles. The protective measures of applying metallic shielding mesh on the nacelle were studied, including the influence of the size and material of the shielding mesh on the shielding effect against LEMP
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