Surge protection devices (SPDs) are designed to minimise the destructive effects of surges on electrical and electronic equipment. There are different types of SPDs depending on the technology they include and what characterises their operation against transient overvoltages.
A lightning rod is an interception system that has the aim of intercepting atmospheric electric discharges and conducting them safely to earth. It is installed on any building or structure to prevent lightning from causing harm to people.
The correlation between anthropogenic aerosol pollution and lightning activity has been known for some time, although the mechanism connecting the two has not been identified yet. The lockdowns enacted to contain the COVID-19 pandemic were an unprecedented opportunity to further explore this relationship.
Lightning protection in buildings is crucial to avoid personal, material and economic damage. An Early Streamer Emission air terminal is a high-tech device that responds to the approach of a lightning strike, anticipating its capture of other elements within its protection zone, in order to conduct the discharge current safely to the earthing. To fulfil their functions, they must be installed after calculating their protection radius in such a way as to protect the desired elements, an operation that can be carried out using two different methods but with identical results: those proposed by the UNE21186 standard and by the Technical Building Code (CTE). However, an erroneous interpretation of the latter can be dangerous.
