Telecom tower is not the correct place to use a lightning attracter device such as lightning rod (lightning arrester).
Lightning arresters try to attract lightning on themselves in order to avoid a lightning strike at any other point. They are installed on the top of the structure and connected to a conductor cable which is bonded to a grounding system at the bottom of the structure. The purpose here is to attract lightning before any other object around and let lightning current flow down to the ground through the conductor cable. This method may be preferrable for protecting structures made of concrete or similar low conductive material considering that conductor cable of lightning arrester is a better way for lightning current to reach ground comparing to concrete body.
However, when a lightning arresting solution is applied to a tall tower made of conductive material such as steel, lightning may still hit the arrester but lightning current prefers to flow through tower body instead of conductive cable since that it would be a faster and easier path to the ground.
There are two reasons for this; 1) Conductor cable is usually made of copper or aluminum and gets corroded in short time and becomes less conductive comparing to tower body which is made of long-lasting steel, 2) Like other high voltage sources, lightning prefers to follow large surfecas instead of a tiny copper cable.
As a result, there is no difference between installing a lightning arrester solution on a telecommunication tower and leaving the tower unprotected because even if lightning strikes at the corner of the tower or lightning arrester, lightning current still follows the same path to the ground which is tower body. During the flow, all equipment on tower body and also inside the nearby shelter are under risk of getting damaged irreversably.
Lightning must be kept away from the site.
Best way of being protected from direct lightning strike damages and secondary damages by electromagnetic field of lightning current is to keep lightning away from the tower.
The point of lightning hit depends on the ground charge accumulation and emission on a structure and reach of these emitted charges to oppositely charged downward streamers. Lightning hits the point of emission and lightning current flows down to the ground through the structure.
EvoDis® Lightning Prevention System dissipates the charges on structure through thousands of tiny sharp points and blocks the emission of these charges. This process makes the protected site “invisible” to lightning and prevents a possible strike on it.
EvoDis® Lightning Prevention System is a lightning protection solution with 100% success in high voltage laboratory tests and in field tests. EvoDis® has been applied to hundreds of lightning prone towers worldwide and none of these towers have been hit by lightning since the dates of installation.
Best way of lightning protection is to stay away from it.
EvoDis® Lightning Prevention System keeps lightning away.