The regulations require lightning protection of aircraft electrical and electronic systems with catastrophic, hazardous, or major failure conditions for aircraft. An aircraft is divided into zones of severity of potential lightning strike damage. Lightning strike protection strategies for composite aircraft triedandtrue materials thrive, but new approaches and new forms designed to process faster are entering the marketplace. These indirect effects are covered specifically in section 22 of rtca. Jul 01, 2006 lightning strike protection for composite structures composite structures are more vulnerable to damage than metal, but todays lsp products offer proven protection. Without proper lightning strike protection, the carbon. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Contrary to the myths, lightning protection systems. Ufc 357501 lightning and static electricity protection. Lightning zoning is a functional step in demonstrating that the aircraft is adequately protected from both direct and indirect effects of lightning. In one possible embodiment in which the aircraft s body includes a plurality of composite panels that.
The book is only available directly from lightning technologies, inc. In this paper also showed a few cases about accident in aircraft caused fault of electrical ground system. This is the canonical handbook for engineers seeking to understand the effects of lightning on aircraft as well as practical measures for protecting aircraft against lightning effects. Lightning caused transient voltages are defined in the aircraft standard rtcado160e. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. Fundamentals of lightning protection systems page 2 of 14 fundamentals of lightning protection systems, edition 1c september 2011. Applied science and manufacturing, 4067, 954967, 2009. Any computer chip exposed to such electrical transients, without proper electrostatic discharge esd protection, will experience catastrophic destruction. To increase the effectiveness of repairs to damage caused by lightning, maintenance personnel must be familiar with lightning protection measures, proper inspection, and repair procedures. The electrical current incident on an aircraft from a typical lightning strike can exceed 200,000 amperes 1, occurring in less than a fraction of a second. Navy and marine corps aircraft maintenance and operations personnel for the purposes of ensuring that aircraft are properly and safely grounded. Damages to aircraft due to lightning strike were frequently noticed. Aircraft rely on embedded metallic foils for protection from all forms of lightning strike.
It is also estimated that there are over 3,000 commercial airliners in the u. Lightning strike protection in aircraft modern lightning protection systems as well as processes of control and certification on l ightning protection of aircraft, which should be performed before. To ensure adequate lightning protection for a specific project, the following functions should be performed by the lightning protection engineer assigned to the project. Us7599164b2 lightning protection system for aircraft. A system for protecting a compositebody aircraft from damage caused by lightning strikes includes a faraday cage defined on the exterior surface of the aircraft body by a continuous, electrically conductive grid that extends to the outermost lateral periphery of the body.
An aircraft radome undergoes lightning testing at national technical systems calabasas, calif. The two most severe categories of zoned lightning strike damage are zone 1a1c requirements per sae arp5414. Lightning direct effects handbook wichita state university. Aircraft lightning protection it is estimated that every passenger aircraft in the u. Below are charts of the most typically produced materials for lightning strike protection in composite aircraft structures for zones 1, 2 and 3. Airlines at the airport had requested an improved warning system to eliminate. Lightning strike protection systems must provide a continuous conductive path of low resistance over the entire aircraft exterior, where the current will travel through the conductive exterior skin and the structures of the aircraft and exit off some other extremity without any problem, as. The handbook contains chapters on the natural phenomenon of lightning. The interation of lightning with aircraft and challenges of lightning testing, journal of aerospace lab, 5, al0511, 110, 2012. This ufc supersedes milhdbk 10046, lightning protection, and army tm 581 air force afm 889 chapter 3, electrical design, lightning and static electricity protection. Toray advanced composites offers several solutions that are compatible with our thermosets, thermoplastics, and compression molded parts for integral lightning strike protection. Lightning protection of aircraft, power systems and houses containing it network electronics.
Pdf on jul 12, 2017, p r p hoole and others published lightning protection of aircraft, power systems and houses containing it network. It is estimated that every passenger aircraft in the u. Lightning protection of aircraft pdf electro magnetic. Transport airplane fuel tank and system lightning protection. Lightning protection initially as part of an nfpa task force, since disbanded assembled for the purpose of responding to the nfpa standards committee decision 0030, specifically the request for technical substantiation of the lightning protection techniques and practice contained in modern lightning protection standards. These through holes are countersunk into the fuel tank shell to a depth such that a fastener in a.
It was expanded upon in 1990 with inputs from rod perala, president of ema. This notice informs the exposure to high energy radiated fields public of the activities of the transport new far 25. This book is an attempt to present under one cover the current state of knowledge concerning the potential lightning effects on aircraft and that means that are available to designers and operators to protect against these effects. Protection design guidelines in this handbook are applicable to composite airframes, including primary and secondary structures, control surfaces, exterior skins and fuel tanks. Nts pittsfield, ma lightning testing center of excellence. The lockheed p38 lightning is a world war iiera american pistonengined fighter aircraft. The first edition was originally published in 1979.
Lightning protection guidelines for aerospace vehicles. Nts pittsfield lightning testing center of excellence nts pittsfield wrote the book on lightning testing and it is still in use by nasa and the faa today. Protect aircraft subsystems with optimized tvs devices. How well does a composite fuselage deal with lightning. Protecting aircraft composites from lightning strike damage. Lightning occurs as a result of a build up of static charges within a cumulonimbus cloud, often associated with the vertical movement and collision of ice particles hail, which result in a negative charge at the base.
Additional lightning protection requirements have been necessitated by the introduction of electronic flight control systems a replacement for the mechanical linkage and wire rigging used in present aircraft. The aim of a risk analysis is to reduce the existing risk to a tolerable risk rt. Lightning protection for aircraft radomes united kingdom. Evaluation of rolling sphere method using leader potential.
That is a lot of lightning strikes on each aircraft. Lightning strike protection for carbon fiber aircraft. Unfortunately, advanced fighter aircraft incorporate all these electromagnetic openings. Aircraft lightning protection market is segmented on basis of types of systems, application. May 01, 20 lightning strike protection strategies for composite aircraft triedandtrue materials thrive, but new approaches and new forms designed to process faster are entering the marketplace. These materials approach the lightning protection performance of traditional metal airframe materials but offer less shielding for the flight systems they enclose than do their metal equivalents. This paper deals with the direct effects of lightning strike on aircraft structures. But the use of composite materials in modern airliners like the boeing 787, with a fuselage made predominantly of carbon fiber, has required additional design features, such as putting some metal back into the fuselage for lightning protection. Lightning protection systems what they do and dont do. Distribution of lightning strikes by altitude a survey of u. This paper presents a study on protection of above ground fuel storage tanks against direct lightning strokes, including the preliminary tests results on metallic sheets subjected to direct.
Lightning protection for aircraft structures aerospace. The lightning protection industry began in the united states when benjamin franklin postulated that lightning was electricity, and a metal rod could be used to carry the lightning. To ensure that staff received the auditory warning, airport personnel drove to each gate, or called airline operations of. Jun 11, 2015 corrosive damage to the emf could result in lower conductivity, thereby reducing its ability to protect aircraft structures from lightning strike damage. It depends on the initiation advance at of the pulsar measured in the high voltage laboratory, on the levels of protection l, il, ill or iv calculated according to the lightning risk assessment guides or. General aviation lightning strike report and protection level study. A new method to protect aircraft from lightning strikes. This book is an attempt to present under one cover the current state of knowledge concerning the potential lightning effects on aircraft and the means that are available to aircraft designers and operators to protect against these effects. A lightning protection systems only purpose is to ensure safety to a building and its occupants if lightning happens to hit it directly, a task accomplished by providing a good, safe path to ground for the lightning to follow. The data in figures 3 and 4 was adapted from data in lightning protection of aircraft by franklin a. Pdf requirements of grounding, bonding, and lightning. Aircraft lightning protection market statistics report.
The design of grounding, bonding, and lightning protection used in aircraft technology will be discussed in this paper. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle. Researchers at boeing are using simulation to verify that protective coatings on metal foil will not fail due to thermal stress arising from a typical flight cycle. Developed for the united states army air corps, the p38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. This is the origin of dotfaact8922 aircraft lightning protection handbook september 1989. Lightning protection of aircraft paperback july, 1977 by franklin a fisher author, j. A lightning strike database was compiled from ga lightning strike forms, which were filled out by pilots and maintenance personnel along with the corresponding maintenance history of that aircraft.
Chapters 8 through 17 focus on protection of electrical and avionic systems against indirect effects and form the basis for our course, lightning protection of avionics. Composite skinned aircraft are far more vulnerable to lightning strikes than their aluminum skinned predecessors. The first airplane lightning protection test standards were published in the mid 1950s by the. Traditional methods to protect composite aircraft from lightning strike damage rely on a conductive layer embedded on or within the surface of the aircraft composite skin. Lightning strike protection for composite structures. Lightning strike protection strategies for composite aircraft.
At the time, most aircraft contained mechanical systems, or simple electrical and electronic systems. The lightning protection institute is a nationwide notforprofit organization founded in 1955 to promote lightning protection education, awareness, and safety. To increase the effectiveness of repairs to damage caused by lightning. Protection of aircraft electro magnetic applications, inc. Lightning strike protection for carbon fiber aircraft wire that was interwoven with every tow of a carbon fabric, resulting in approximately ten tows and wires to every 25mm 1 inch. Aircraft lightning protection market industry analysis and. A variety of metal mesh and expanded foil products, such as this offered by dexmet, are available to composite manufacturers for lightning strike protection of composites. It has been updated twice by the authors and now being published as lightning protection of aircraft which is known in the industry as the text book. Direct effects of lightning on aircraft structure onera aerospacelab. Semantic scholar extracted view of lightning protection of aircraft by f. Protection of aircraft electricalelectronic systems against the indirect effects of lightning, dated december 21, 2006, is cancelled.
This action would establish design requirements for both normal conditions and possible failures of fuel tank structure and systems that could. Adopted in the 1960s, these regulations require that the aircraft be protected against catastrophic effects of lightning, but do not have specific requirements for electrical and electronic system lightning protection. Strikes to airplanes are relatively common but rarely result in a significant impact to the continued safe operation of the airplane. Aircraft lightning protection market size crossed usd 2. United states us federal aviation administration faa and the. Large blue cloth hardcover with silver lettering, 2004, second edition, lightning technologies inc. It explains how to convert the power and current levels of the traditional 10 s waveform as specified for most tvs devices, or any other waveform, to those for aircraft protection requirements. Temperature variations due to the groundtoair flight cycle can, however, lead to the formation of cracks in the surface protection scheme, reducing its effectiveness. For the application to nacelle products constructed by spirit aerosystems, aluminum metal mesh products carried an. Pdf lightning protection of aircraft semantic scholar.
As discussed above, the direct lightning strike on an aircraft causes indirect voltage transients due to magnetic or electric field coupling. This ac presents a method of showing compliance with far 29. Experimental studies of lightning strikes to aircraft onera. Lightning protection is used on boeing airplanes to avoid delays and interruptions as well as reduce the significance of. Smaller aircraft and the military have been using composites for 30 or 40 years, says ed rupke. The basis of conventional lightning protection technology. Lightning strikes to jet airliners are common, about once every 1,000 flying hours, while passengers and crew are safely transported to their destinations. This is the canonical book for engineers seeking to understand the effects of lightning on aircraft as well as practical measures for protecting aircraft against lightning effects. Zipse, fellow, ieee abstractthe successful 200yearold method of using a franklin rod to collect, control, and convey to earth the awesome and destructive power of lightning has produced other controversial, potential alternate methods. The boeing 787 dreamliner is comprised of more than 50% carbon fiber reinforced plastic cfrp figure 1. The radius of protection rp of a pulsar is given by french standard nf c 17102 dated sept 2011. Through holes extend along the fastener centerline through the conductive material and the underlying fuel tank shell.
As with all aspects of electromagnetic interference and control, the prevention of damage and interference from lightning becomes more and more critical as aircraft evolve. A lightning strike is a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere. A lightning protected conductive composite fuel tank includes a conductive material arrayed on an outer surface to at least partially cover a fastener centerline. While the possibility of an aircraft being struck by lightning is rare and does not present a threat to flight crews or pilots, aircraft manufacturers are looking to improve their current level of. Every new jet aircraft design undergoes more than 1,000 simulated lightning zaps to determine the protection levels and suppressor placement required for its myriad of power and signal lines.
The impetus for writing this book springs from two sources the incr. The faa proposes to amend certain airworthiness regulations for transport category airplanes regarding lightning protection of fuel tanks and systems. The standards for aircraft electrical and electronic system lightning protection are based on the aircrafts potential for lightning exposure and the consequences of system failure. A risk analysis does not only allow to determine the class of lps, but also to create a complete protection concept including the necessary lemp protection measures. Evaluation of rolling sphere method using leader potential concept. These forms were adopted from faarecommended forms on lightning strikes, developed by lightning technology incorporated 3.
Us7554785b2 lightning damage protection for composite. All the techniques to design aircraft and rockets for lightning. The standards for aircraft electrical and electronic system lightning protection are based on the aircraft s potential for lightning exposure and the. The data in figures 3 and 4 was adapted from data in lightning protection of aircraft by franklin. Significant skin areas on aircraft such as the airbus 350 and 380 and the boeing 787 are now fabricated using carbon composites. This 20,000 square foot facility is home to generators that are capable of producing over 200,000 amperes and 2. Smaller aircraft and the military have been using composites for 30 or 40 years, says ed rupke, vice president and senior engineer at lightning technologies, inc. It presents a comprehensive text to provide the essential information for the inflight lightning protection of all types of fixedrotary wing and powered lift aircraft of conventional, composite, and mixed construction and their electrical and fuel systems. This instruction also implements the maintenance requirements of dod 6055. Pdf lightning protection of aircraft, power systems and. New technology improving the lightning protection of modern aircraft.
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