Thursday, October 14, 2010

MR. HARTONO’S OVERLOOK OF CONVENTIONAL LIGHTNING PROTECTION SYSTEM’S FAILURES


(Posting in response to Mr. Hartono’s recent articles regarding Early Streamer Emission lightning protection systems)

By Trang Bui (1) and Sylvain Fauveaux (2)
1 International Lightning Protection Association (ILPA)
2 Indelec S.A. (France), Lightning Protection




Any professional or anyone who have some knowledge about lightning protection would know that there are two types of lightning protection systems (LPS). One is the long existent conventional LPS including Franklin rod and Meshed cage as far back as 200 years ago. The other is more recently developed LPS including Early Streamer Emission (ESE).

There are still many debates and disputes going on between the two technologies. So far, none of the two is scientifically proved better than the other. It is also not the intention of this paper to do that job which should be left to researchers and professionals through their works in the lab and real life experiments.

However, we would like to discuss about conventional supporters’ interesting take on the matter, for instance, Mr. Hartono, a conventional LPS consultant in Malaysia. For years, he and his friends have been going around Malaysia and taking pictures of ESE-protected buildings being struck by lightning. He then would publish these pictures in international conferences or local newspapers to underline that these systems are not efficient.

Meanwhile, he purposely overlooks many bypasses of buildings using conventional LPS.

It is a known fact that there is no 100% of lightning protection until now, unless you fully cover a building with copper to create a closed shield (which is not practical and environmental-friendly in real life.). There is always a small risk of being struck by lighting despite of a LPS being used.

Here are some failure examples of conventional systems, or in Mr. Hartono’s words, the so-called more efficient LPS.


Figure 1: The Cathedral of Matagalpa, Nicaragua before and after a bypass on 29th August 2010


Figure 2: Bungalow in Damansara Idaman, Malaysia
 29th November 2006





 Figure 3: Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia- – 30th May 2006


Conclusion: It is not our purpose to degrade conventional systems in any way when we publish these pictures. Putting others down does not raise you up, therefore, we will not pick up Mr Hartono’s method and get in a childish debate. We only want to point out that it is extremely easy to expose lightning incidents without any details allowing the readers to have a complete picture of the site conditions. A LPS is a complete package which should not only include the specifications of the air terminal, but also its location, the system design, the dimensions and number of down conductors, the resistance of the earthing system and additional measures. Therefore, the investigation of a LPS failure requires a lot more in-depth than the premature accusation based on pictures of so-called mal-functioned air-terminals.

While some “impartial” consultants out there put all of their efforts in defaming the most recent products; modern manufacturers and their teams of engineers are spending times to improve their technology to minimize the risk of lightning to public safety and protect human’s properties. Let the truth speak for itself and the statistic prove ESE system’s efficiency.
October 2010.