Protec Foudre team has been involved in researches on Lighting Protection for years and its new revolutionary Early Streamer Emission air terminal is a perfect combination of fundamental research and innovation. Besides Protec Foudre has been closely associated to the drafting and publication process of the new ESE Standard NF C 17 102 version.

Protec Foudre offers a cost effective yet extremely reliable lightning protection system. It is the really first ESE air terminal that has been designed and tested in full accordance with the new NF C 17 102 version 2011 standard.

How does and Early Streamer Emission lightning rod works ?

When lightning strikes, an electrical field is always created at ground level and this increases in intensity as the «downward leader» approaches. Once this reaches a certain level - between 50 and 100 kV/m - the Corona effect, which develops naturally at the top of any high structure, allows discharges - known as upward leaders - to rise toward the cloud (see previous section on the lightning phenomenon).

The position of the ionized path which will allow the lightning current to pass is determined by where the upward leader comes into contact with the first downward leader from the cloud.

The sooner the rising discharge (upward leader) leaves the lightning rod to move toward the cloud, the sooner it will move closer to the downward leader and the greater the chances of the two making contact before other rising discharges from nearby high points. It can be seen, then, that it is the start point of the first upward leader which determines the point of impact of the lightning on the ground. An early streamer emission lightning rod is designed to provide optimal conditions for the formation of this rising discharge.

For this the following conditions are necessary:

·         The presence of primary electrons at the top of the rod : these electrons, given off in the form of plasma, encourage the start-up of the rising discharge.

·         Ionized plasma being formed at the right moment when lightning is about to strike, in other words, in phase with the rising electric field at ground level.

PimeR^® unique and patented Technology: the tip electronic variation

Following several decades of lightning research, it is admitted that a sharp pointed tip is triggering a corona effect earlier than a rounded tip. On the contrary, the sharp tip is generating pulses that are not lasting as long as the rounded tip which pulses are generated later but with more stable and lasting properties.

Based on these research findings, the PrimeR® is the first Early Streamer Emission lightning rod to propose an electronically-controlled variation of the tip shape: the working principle deals with the variations of the tip amplification ratio using an auxiliary polarization voltage emitter: thanks to this amplification ratio, the tip can fictively evolve from a rounded to a sharp shape and vice-versa. The tip electronic variation obtained is applied in line with the electrical field evolution.

This new Early Streamer Emission lightning rod is fully autonomous thanks to its E Field energy recovery unit and its process is based on the ambient E Field evolution (v/m). The PrimeR® lightning rod full electrical continuity as well as its complete EMC immunity enable this new generation of air terminal to withstand the most powerful lightning discharges while providing a safe and long lasting lightning protection.