Neptun Lightning Protection Package

High availability of wind turbines even during thunderstorms

Electricity from wind power has globally become a well-established approach to alternative energy generation - and the figure is rising. Few wind turbine operators can afford downtimes. The risks for structures being hit by lightning grows in relation with the height of the structure. Together with their blades, megawatt wind turbines may have total heights up to 200 m and are therefore particularly prone to lightning strikes. DEHN + SOEHNE's experience over decades in the field of lightning protection and intensive worldwide research on wind turbines helped to develop  concepts for lightning protection systems that drastically reduce lightning damage to rotor blades, bearings and gearboxes. Thus, also downtime and the resulting loss of generating capacities due to overvoltage damage caused by lightning strikes are reduced to a minimum.

 DEHN + SOEHNE offers approved lightning and surge protection products in compliance with IEC 61400-24 and protection concepts tailored to customer needs. The impulse current laboratory of DEHN + SOEHNE provides engineering and test services to optimise customised solutions. Testing customer-specific prewired connection units for protecting the electrical installation, testing the lightning current carrying capability of bearings as well as lightning current tests of down conductors and receptors of rotor blades carried out in the impulse current laboratory prove the effectiveness of the devices and optimise the "protection package".

DEHN + SOEHNE offers innovative products for protecting wind turbines in case of lightning strikes and overvoltage, for example the "Neptune" arrester set - a non-exhausting arrester combination in the form of a prewired complete unit that protects the rotor and inverter of wind turbines taking into account high voltage tolerances. The most important parameters at a glance:

- Max. discharge current 8/20µs, Imax: 30 kA

- For wind turbines to protect the rotor:

- up to 1000 V in TN systems and 1000 V in IT systems

- High 50 Hz power frequency withstand voltage prevents tripping of the arrester combination up to 2.2 kVrms.

- High TOV resistance (Un + 1200 V)

- Reliable insulation resistance of the arrester to equipotential bonding (PA/EB) due to lightning current carrying TFS SN 1638 spark gap  

- LGA-certified vibration and shock resistance according to EN 60068-2