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Diesel Tank Lightning Protection

04/30/2012 2:22 PM

i asked previously a question about lightning protection of diesel storage tanks.however the answers were not too satisfying.i live in dhaka bangladesh.i then thought two schemes that can help:

Scheme "A": by installing surge arrestors directly on the tanks, down conductor and earth conductor system as shown below:

however i have two questions in this schemes:

i. is this a safe design because the very high lightning current flowing through grounding conductor will cause very high heat just adjecent to the fuel.also what if some portion of lightning storke falls on tank and not arrestor?

ii. is there any IEC,IEE,API etc standard supporting this design?

Scheme "B": scheme B utilizes the fact that lightning is attracted more to tall metallic objects .so i will use a tall pole placed at some distance say 10meters adjecent to the tank and then install the lightning arrestor on that pole and bond the fuel tank to that pole as shown below:

again i have to same two questions as for scheme "A".

which schemem will be much safe?

kindly reply only to the questions and not to me being untrained.

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#1

Re: diesel tank lightning protection

04/30/2012 2:45 PM
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#2

Re: diesel tank lightning protection

04/30/2012 2:47 PM

This might be interesting.

However, I don't recall ever seeing lightning rods on fuel tanks. (Maybe I need to look around more?)

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#3

Re: diesel tank lightning protection

04/30/2012 3:12 PM

Have you looked at this?

API 545 - Recommended Practice for Lightning Protection of Aboveground Storage Tanks

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#4

Re: Diesel Tank Lightning Protection

04/30/2012 3:27 PM

Using the rolling sphere ("geometric-electrical model") method, scheme B looks like the better option.

You should also have a look at the lightning protection standard IEC 62305 (parts 1 to 4), as this is probably the standard you will need to comply with.

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#5

Re: Diesel Tank Lightning Protection

04/30/2012 6:40 PM

Hire an engineer, the life you save may be your own.

Hire an engineer, the job you save may be your own.

Hire an engineer, the reputation you save may be your own.

Good luck, Sparky.

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#6

Re: Diesel Tank Lightning Protection

05/01/2012 4:41 AM
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#7

Re: Diesel Tank Lightning Protection

05/02/2012 9:17 AM

RAMconsult said API 545. Its amazing how complicated this is!

http://www.api.org/meetings/proceedings/upload/Storage_Tank_Proceedings_Chip_Breitweiser.pdf

Its a specialty in itself.

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