GENERAL SPECIFICATION

CHARGE TRANSFER SYSTEM

1.0

GENERAL

1.1

Definition

The Charge Transfer System (CTS) is form of lightning protection that has been
developed to prevent lightning strikes to a site and to the protective system itself. The
system dissipates (leaks off) the charge induced by the storm cell onto the protected area
by transferring that charge to the surrounding air by Point Discharge. The resulting
potential between the protected site and the storm clouds is thereby reduced significantly,
thereby preventing direct strikes.
1.2

System Performance

The Charge Transfer System shall be capable of continuously dissipating or transferring at

least one half an ampere during a mature storm throughout the storm period. It shall
prevent any lightning activity from terminating within the protected area and shall not be
struck itself.
The Charge Transfer System shall lower the voltage potential between the protected site
and storm cells to levels below that required to produce lightning. This means that the
measured field strength in the protected area shall be well below the 1,000 volts per meter
of elevation. Further, the resulting potential in the protected area shall be significantly
lower than that of its surroundings at any point during a storm.
1.3

System Composition

The Charge Transfer System shall be composed of three basic properly integrated
subsystems conforming to the following specifications:
1.3.1 The Dissipator or Ionizer Assembly shall be designed to fit the subject
facility in such a manner as to prevent a strike or the initiation of one from the
facility and shall conform to the following specifications without exception:
a.
The Ionizer assembly shall be made of Charge Transfer
System wire whose geometry shall have been determined by
laboratory simulation tests to provide maximum ion current for a
given electric field strength. Refer to Figure 4. Each point shall
be separated so as to maximize ion current during a storm.

1.3.2 The Ground Current Collector (GCC) Assembly shall be designed,

developed and positioned to collect any charge induced into the protected facility
by the storm cell, regardless of soil or facility type.
All components of the protected facility shall be electrically connected into this
GCC. This includes all other grounds, regardless of their primary function.

1.3.3. The Service Wires, or Interconnections shall provide a safe, redundant,

low impedance path for the GCC collected charge, to carry that charge to the
Ionizer Assembly. It may be composed of heavy gage copper or stainless steel.
Care shall be taken to insure a conductive path between the GCC and the
Ionizer Assembly under the most adverse conditions. It shall be deployed in such
a way as to minimize the possibility of being cut or damaged during routine
maintenance.
1.4

Quality Assurance
Manufacturers qualifications: Firms regularly engaged in manufacture of CTS,
related ground systems, and installation of protective systems of the scope and
type herein required, and whose products have been in satisfactory use in similar
service for not less than 10 years shall be qualified for this project.

1.5

Warranty and Performance Assurance

1.5.1 The CTS shall be guaranteed in writing to prevent lightning strikes to the
protected area as herein defined. If the system fails to perform as herein specified,
the contractor shall determine the cause, propose a corrective action and
implement it upon approval by the Owner without further cost to the owner. This
warranty shall remain in force for a period of one year, extendable to not less than
five (5) years upon yearly recertification.
1.5.2 The proposed CTS shall have a history of not less than fifteen years to
assure ability to satisfy these requirements.
1.5.3 The bidder must provide a list of not less than 20 separate customer
references that will attest to the effectiveness of the proposed system and have the
required history.

1.6

Acceptable Manufacturers
The preapproved manufacturer of the point discharge type lightning protection
systems is Lightning Eliminators & Consultants, Inc. (LEC), 6687
Arapahoe Road, Boulder, Colorado 80303 USA (303) 447-2828. Any other
candidate must be proved to be equal. Installers must be supported by a qualified
Installation Engineer, with at least 5 years of experience.

2.0

System Composition

2.1

The CTS shall be composed of three basic, properly designed and integrated
subsystems, each of which shall conform to the following specifications.
The Ionizer Assembly shall be designed to safely interface with the customers
facility without degrading its specific mission or structural integrity.
The assembly shall be designed to shape, or conform to the shape of the lines
of equipotential as the form around the facility to be protected. Under no
circumstances shall it create or permit to be created, discontinuities that may
form or permit to be formed streamers from the Ionizer or from within its
protected facility. It shall be so designed that all of the Ionizer points go into
ionization at approximately the same time or voltage level.
The Ionizer shall be designed so as to provide the required number of sharp points
per unit area, related to approximately 45 meters square per Ionizer. In no case
shall the Ionizer assembly provide less than the required number of points as
calculated for the given site. Calculations are required with the design.
The Ionizer shall be made from a stainless steel wire providing a matrix of points,
at least 10 centimeters from an adjacent set of points.
Each Ionizer assembly shall be mounted in such a way as to assure an
unobstructed view of the storms electrostatic field from any direction. In no
case shall it or any other device on the same structure be mounted such that the
electrostatic field is limited, shadowed or obscured from the Ionizer.
The Ionizer assembly performance shall be qualified in accordance with the test
procedure specified within Appendix 1.

2.2

The Ground Charge Collector (GCC) or Grounding System

This system shall be designed and deployed such that it is a position to collect
any charge induced into the protected facility by the storm, regardless of soil or
facility type.
All components of the facility shall be electrically connected into the GCC. This
includes all other grounds, regardless of their function.
The GCC shall be composed of a combination of chemically activated ground
rods (Electrodes) and an interconnecting grid of copper tubing of not less than 1/4
inch diameter or equal diameter cable. The electrodes shall be spaced at intervals
no closer than two times their length. At least one electrode shall be used for
every 5,000 square feet of protected area. The metallic salt mixture used inside
the chemically activated ground rod shall be properly selected for the local soil
conditions. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate typical grounding systems layouts for CTS
installations at small areas such as a communications site.
All joints in the system shall be brazed or of the Cadweld type.
The GCC interconnections shall be buried no less than 25 cm nor more than
50 cm deep. Any conditions requiring a variance to this requirement shall be
engineered into the final design.
The Service Wires or Interconnections are to provide a safe, redundant low
impedance path from the GCC collected charge to the Ionizer assembly. It
shall be composed of a heavy gage copper wire or copper tubing at least 1.2
centimeters in diameter which is the preferred concept. Care shall be taken to
insure a conductive path between the GCC and the Ionizer under the most
adverse conditions, it shall be deployed in such a way as to minimize the
possibility of being cut or destroyed.

2.3

General Design Specification

2.3.1 All components of the CTS shall be designed with withstand a wind force of
at least 80 miles per hour (130 km/hr).
2.3.2 The CTS shall be designed and deployed so as to not require periodic
maintenance at intervals of less than 5 years. Yearly inspections and
chemically activated ground electrodes recharging and recertifications are
expected.

2.3.3 All materials shall be selected to assure compatibility with each other and with the
protected system to avoid galvanic corrosion.
3.0

Installation of Lightning Protection Systems

3.1

The Ionizer
The lightning protection systems shall be installed as indicated in accordance
with equipment manufacturers drawings and written instructions, and in
compliance with applicable requirements of National Electric Code (NEC).
Installation of the lightning prevention system shall be coordinated with other
work, including electrical wiring as necessary to interface the installation of the
lightning prevention system.

3.2

Grounding systems (GCC) shall conform to a separate specification:

Grounding and Bonding Requirements for Communications Systems. May,
1997. No specific resistance to earth goal is required for a CTS-based earthing
system since its function is collection of the storm-induced charge. High soil
resistance and/or grounding resistance does not influence the charge collection
function.
If the electronic equipment manufacturer requires a given resistance, usually 5
ohms is specified. Then refer to the reference for estimating the requirement.
Upon completion of installation of the lightning prevention system, resistanceto-ground (earthing connection) shall be tested with a resistance tester. Where
tests indicate resistance-to-ground is over 5 ohms, appropriate action shall be
taken to reduce resistance to 5 ohms or less, by installing additional, properly
spaced, ground rods and treating soils in proximity to ground rods with common
salt, copper sulfate or magnesium sulfate. A retest shall be performed to
demonstrate compliance.

3.3

Bonding
Bonding requirements for facilities using Charge Transfer System strike
prevention technology is much simpler than that required for the common
lightning collector concepts. Since there will be no lightning strikes to the site,
bonding requirements are limited to the establishment of an equal potential
reference point or Common Point Ground.

The equal potential reference for communications sites is usually referred to

as the Ground Window or the Common Point Ground (CPG). The
implementation and application of the CPG is the key to performance. Figure 5
illustrates a typical CPG buss bar. The system (bonding) is implemented as
follows:
3.3.1 Install a CPG buss bar at the point where the ground grid connection enters
the building.
3.3.2 Connect the CPG buss bar to a Chem-Rod grounding electrode, installed just
outside the building by the CPG buss.
Note: A chemically activated grounding electrode is required
to reduce the earthing surge or transient impedance.
3.3.3 Make separate ground wire runs from each individual rack of equipment to the
CPG buss bar. Use a large diameter wire (500 mcm) or copper tubing to reduce
the transient impedance.
Caution: Do not use Halo Grounds or a daisy chain concept,
keep them separate and as short as practical.
3.3.4 Make a separate ground connection from the electrical service surge protection
to the CPG, with 500 mcm copper wire.
3.3.5 Make a separate ground connection from the telephone line protectors to the CPG.
Use 250 mcm or greater.
3.3.6 Make sure that all other grounds or references are also connected to the CPG.
3.3.7 Connect the shield of all external coax wires to the CPG at the closest location to
the CPG.
3.3.8 Use compression fittings for internal connections.
3.3.9 Use Cadweld (Thermoweld) connections for all external connections.
3.3.10 The lightning protection Charge Collection System must also be bonded to the
CPG, at the Chem-Rod.

4.0

Personnel Training

Building Maintenance Personnel Training: the Owners maintenance personnel shall be

trained in procedures for testing and determining resistance-to-ground values of the
lightning prevention system. Also maintenance personnel shall be instructed in preparation
and application of chemical solution for earth surrounding grounding rods for reducing
ohmic resistance to required levels.

APPENDIX 1
ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE
OF AN IONIZER PANEL

The Ionizer Panel is the primary component of a Charge Transfer System (CTS) or
Charge Dissipation System (CDS). These panels are a component or a CTS system
building block, designed to prevent the termination of a lightning strike to any thus
protected area. Preventing the termination requires a method of collecting the charge
induced on that site and transferring that charge to the Ionizer as fast as the charging
mechanism creates or induces the charge. The Ionizer must then transfer that charge back
to the storm cell, at the same rate, using air molecules as the transfer medium.
Ionizer efficiency shall be assessed within an Electrostatic Field Simulator, by plotting the
ionization current of a sample panel as a function of the applied voltage. The Ionizer
panel must be typical of that design used for the CTS. The ionization current must be
measured as a function of the voltage applied to the Ionizer, when the spacing between
that Ionizer Panel and the simulator high voltage plate is set at 1/2 meter. Refer to Figure
3 for the Test Setup.
The test procedure shall consist of a series of current measurements as a function of the
applied voltage. The steps should be in increments of about 1 kV, starting at 10 kV and
increasing to at least 100 kV. No arc is to form between the panel and the simulator plate.
An arc disqualifies the test. The actual ionization current measured should equal or
exceed that illustrated by Figure 4. Again, this shall be without any arc produced within
the Ionizer, or between it and the simulator anode plate.
At peak voltages, the Ionizer must also be producing visible corona. The following
factors are considered significant:
1.

The Ionizer Test Panel shall be an exact replica of a portion of that

used to build up the Charge Transfer System (CTS).

2.

The Ionizer Test Panel shall be large enough to contain at

least 120 points.

3.

The test facility shall be at least 2.5 meters square to create the
required electric field without fringe effects.

4.

The metering system shall have been calibrated prior to the test, and
shall offer scales of from 0 to at least 5,000 microamperes.