SI INTERCEPTOR ESE Early Streamer Emission Air Terminal Testing

The ERITECH SI INTERCEPTOR ESE early streamer emission air terminal has been extensively tested in multiple independent high-voltage laboratories. Testing requirements were conducted in accordance with the French NFC17-102 and Spanish UNE-21186 standards.
Tests following these two standards simulate natural lightning conditions, allowing for performance comparisons between different lightning protection systems.
The testing simulates natural electric field conditions, where a constant electric field (caused by charges between clouds and the ground, simulated by a DC generator laboratory) is superimposed with a pulsed electric field (caused by downward leaders approaching the ground, simulated by a Marx generator with a long front wave).
Corona discharge at the tip of the rod is measured using a photomultiplier tube method to determine the triggering time of both simple passive lightning rods (SR) and the ERITECH SI INTERCEPTOR ESE early streamer emission air terminal.
This allows for the determination of the average values for simple passive lightning rods (SR) and the ERITECH early streamer emission air terminal. The time difference is defined as T(SR) minus T(SI), resulting in the early streamer emission time ΔT of the ERITECH SI INTERCEPTOR ESE air terminal.

SI INTERCEPTOR ESE Early Streamer Emission Lightning Rod Working Principle

Under lightning conditions, when a downward leader approaches the ground, any conductive surface will generate an upward leader. In the case of passive lightning rods, the upward leader propagates only after a prolonged period of charge accumulation. The ERITECH SI INTERCEPTOR ESE early streamer emission air terminal significantly shortens the initiation time of the upward leader.
Under high static electric field conditions prior to lightning discharge, the ERITECH SI INTERCEPTOR ESE early streamer emission air terminal generates pulses of controlled amplitude and frequency at the tip. This causes the lightning rod to produce an upward leader that propagates upward, intercepting the downward leader emitted from the thundercloud.