ON COURSE

NATURAL CAUSES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY for the
United States Air Force
By Mike Helms

The increasing need for more electronics, and the installation of the latest designs of sophisticated electronic equipment continues to press a technical training and maintenance support program to limits that produce frustration in the ranks. Industry standards change, industry demands change and the industry of people change. These continual changes create peaks and valleys of electronic equipment integrity and reliability. Some reasons for the frustrations are due to inadequate equipment operator training and equipment received that is incapable of accomplishing the desired task. But, when the industry of people are positioned to accomplish a USAF mission, they all produce their own level of expertise and achieve the goal they have been assigned. Many obstacles can become part of a project before the mission is completely finished and all electronic equipment is functional and operating as designed. One worldwide problem area that is seldom addressed by operators of the electronics or facility maintenance personnel or design engineers of the electronics is transient voltage activity in the electrical power system of the facility location in which the sensitive electronics will be installed and expected to operate effectively.

The part of power quality that will be addressed in this summary is transient voltage surges created from two basic source groups, external of the facility and internal to the facility. External sources of a facility can be by environmental disturbances (lightning) and power source aberrations and malfunctions. These are usually the catastrophic strikes that cause extensive electronic damage at one moment in time. A lightning strike, a downed power utility pole and transformer malfunction are examples of external events that can close an airfield or destroy a mission project. Internal surges are the everyday transient events that eat away at your sensitive electronics like cancer. These transient events have been recorded to occur over 400,000 times per hour in an industrial environment and 60,000 times per hour in a small shop. This over-voltage event "spikes" the sensitive circuit boards with regular jolts equivalent to a sledge hammer slamming down on concrete. Soon, the electronic equipment begins to experience glitches in the program, syntax errors, reboot situations and none can be traced by the service technician. Soon a board fails and the vital system goes into downtime. The technician replaces a "bad" board that has been located through troubleshooting methods and the system is operational again, until duplication of the story happens again. Many times the cause is due to inadequate protection from the internal surges in the electrical power system of a facility created by electrical equipment in the facility switching on and off.

When an inductive electric motor is switched off, the electro magnetic field collapses. When this magnetic field collapses, a high voltage transient results in the motor circuitry. Documentation proves these transients create premature motor failure and can result in distribution of the transient event throughout a facility once it reaches the electrical "distribution" power panel. Once at the panel, sensitive computer electronics downline from the panel can be ruined. Documentation has also proven that switching off fluorescent lighting can generate 1200 volt "spikes" which can cause premature bulb and ballast replacement and also induce "electrical noise" on the power line which can feed "unexplained problems" to your sensitive electronics.

If you are responsible for the corrective action to establish reliable equipment operation, we encourage you to look at this Application Guideline very carefully. Application of this quality of transient voltage surge suppression has documented proof of up to 50% reduction in bulb and ballast replacements, up to 50% reduction in electric motor repairs and up to 85% reduction in micro processor board replacements. If you are in a position to show cost accountability, look very close at the savings from everyday maintenance expenses that could be utilized "to upgrade equipment" as one USAF letter states. The savings from installation of this quality of transient voltage surge suppression are 24 hours per day. Then, when the occasional lightning storms occur, the sensitive electronics are protected from the external surges as well. The results to seek are testimonials of "NO DAMAGE". This is the type of results that one expects when this quality of suppressor is installed to protect the electronics. Be advised, there is a tremendous amount of difference in the suppressor products offered on the market today. Choose the product line with results that have proven documentation.

END

If anyone is interested in further information on this subject, let us know and we will send you a package on possible solutions to these natural manifestations.

This article was reprinted from ANG Air Traffic Control publication "ON COURSE".

Author's note... The preceding summary was written and is reprinted with the permission of Mr. Mike Helms (mike@lightningmike.com). and was presented at the ATCALS PIWG in Feb. '96, McClellan AFB.