Electrical Equipment Damaged by Lightning Strike

It depends on who is not protected against surges of that magnitude.

Anyway isolation transformer should be first target.

If you have an effective LPS and your electrical equipments are properly earthed then there i high chance of nothing being damaged but if you don't have, in event of lightning surge you d not really know the extent of damage.

A couple of years ago we had a lightning strike damage one of our coaters. Every VFD in the system was toast, but the PLC (except for one module), analog cards, etc. were all OK.

In your situation, it's possible. However, you have no idea which components are OK and which are not. They all need to be extensively tested. Since this is an elevator, I'm sure there are codes. I believe it would be prudent to call in a professional engineering firm.

I was once sitting in a bar at a marina, and watched a single lightning bolt strike 5 boats. These boats were not all next to each other- the bolt actually appeared to jump OVER a couple of intermediate sailing vessels. Being involved in repairs on some of the vessels, it was amazing the difference in the damages incurred- in one case, all of the electronics were dead, but with no visible evidence of charring or over-current. In another case, virtually all of the wiring harness throughout the vessel was gone. In another case, one or two pieces of equipment were obviously fried, but no other visible damage.

In other words, ANYTHING is possible from a lightning strike. There is no way to predict what will happen, or to know for sure why what happened happened in the way it did...

In spite of what the saleman trying to sell you a new lightning protection system may claim...

I agree, with you anything is possible. Make sure of the building earth and electrical earth. Invest in lightning arrestors between all phases and earth. Make sure that your neutral is at earth potential. You may also want to put protection on the neutral bar as the grounding of the neutral may be disconnected during power failures.

What some say about a good earth. Lightning seeks the easiest rout to earth, that means the beter your earth the beter you chance to be struck.

Yes, that is possible. I have had the most incredible lightning strike repairs. The high voltage runs often outside on conductors, destroying clamps, stripping these from the wall and without destroying the wire itself. In older TV sets I have seen the copper of printed circuits loose from the layer. Probably the lightning found an easier way to the ground from there. Maybe the metal of the elevator, if you look well, traces will become visible.

Lightning can enter equipment in any direction and damage part or all of the equipment. Normally but not always a higher current strike will damage higher current devices while a lower induced voltage will damage/ destroy more sensitive control equipment..

We have often designed surge protection systems for elevator rooms at the penthouse to mitigate the damage caused by induced voltages from strikes even though the building had a LPS on the roof. This has been extremly succesfull in limiting and eliminating the damages. Also it has eliminated some maintenance costs and equipment replacement costs.

The surge protection system has to be designed using the correct SPDs for each location and they have to be installed correctly. It is usually best to utilize a Certified Power Quality Professional for this. Most protection installed by everyday electrical contractors does not get installed for maximum performance and protection of the electrical equipment.

As many posters have stated, lightning can do strange things. In your case, it does not seem strange at all. If this is a typical elevator system, the incoming transformer and the inverter drive are both grounded. Lightning is a static discharge seeking the least-impedance path to ground. A lightning strike on the incoming line would find discharge through the transformer ground path until the heat damage increased that path's impedance to greater than the inverter path. If nothing else is damaged, the transformer and inverter lasted long enough to discharge all the energy from the strike.

I would recommend getting the elevator manufacturer to troubleshoot and repair the system, then run the full commissioning tests as if they had just installed a brand new elevator. That type of test will verify the proper operation of every component and safety device.

Hello,

I would hire an elevator service & engineering firm that is licensed and bonded (Insured).

Have everything inspected, Mechcanical and electrical, even grounding cables and leads. Leave nothing to chance. Get everything in writing. All Service & Repair Reports, and e-mails etc...

Have the work inspected by the city and insurance company inspectors. This way liability will lie in the insurance companies hands, you will sleep well knowing do did everything possible. Get the OK in writing before putting into operation.

Regards, Tim