Estimating discharge capacity of zinc oxide based element used in lightning arresters

摘要

The discharge capacity estimation involves lightning arrestors (1) which are carried on pallets (10). The pallets are transported on a conveyor (20,21) which is driven by a mechanism (22). A rectangular current wave is applied to the elements by jack operated electrodes at a first station (30). At a second station (40) an infrared camera (41) and computer (44) detects maximum and minimum temperatures in the elements and calculates their difference divided by the distance between them. This index allows the discharge capacity of each element to be determined. Voltage limits are found by additional stations (50,60).