JPH0471197A - Ground discharge preventive device of ion active emission type - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To release electric charges stagnating on the ground to the upper sky and prevent ground discharge effectively by installing a sharp tip electrode in such a way as facing an orifice formed in a flat plate electrode, and allowing the gas supplied from a high pressure gas supply source to pass through the orifice quickly to be discharged to the atmosphere. CONSTITUTION:When the electric field on the ground attains a certain degree, a control part 7 judges a generation of thunder cloud and starts the whole device, and a switch 6 is turned over according to the polarity of the electric charges on the ground. Positive ions are attached to water drops sprayed off from the tip of a nozzle 12 into a cylinder in the form of mist. Meantime the air from a high pressure tank 8 passes through a pipe 9 to be sprayed into cylinder 1, and passes through an orifice 2a at a speed as high as several tens to several hundreds of meters per sec. Water drops with ions attached are carried out by this air flow from between electrodes. A blower 13 takes in the air from outside and spouts upward vigorously. Ions are released to the upper sky while being carried by this air flow. If a heating device 14 is operated, the air becomes lighter, and the ion stream will reach a higher place.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention uses the earth's charge in the form of ions to be emitted into the atmosphere to create a device for lightning arrest, lightning protection, or mitigation of lightning strikes. .

(Prior Art) Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-7038 describes a device that generates ions by corona discharge and sends them toward the sky to neutralize the charge of thunderclouds.

Generally, thunderclouds have an electric charge of several tens of coulombs, and to neutralize this, it is necessary to release an electric charge of the same magnitude from the ground. The lightning needs to be extinguished before it begins.

For example, if this amount of charge is to be released in about 10 minutes, an ion current of about several tens of milliamps is required.

By the way, in the above-mentioned device, a DC voltage is applied between a cylindrical electrode and a needle-shaped electrode placed inside it to cause a corona discharge, and the generated ions are discharged from between the electrodes using wind that collides with the cylindrical electrode. It is being moved out.

However, the wind speed of the corona wind is not very high, and the above-mentioned device can only extract an ion current of several microamperes at most, making it almost impractical.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention aims to obtain a large ion current and to radiate the ion current high into the sky.

(Means and effects for solving the problem) When a high voltage DC voltage is applied between a flat plate electrode and a sharp electrode, corona discharge occurs. For example, when the sharp electrode side is positive, gas molecules around the sharp electrode are ionized. The electrons are absorbed by the sharp electrode, leaving positive ions in space. Conversely, when the sharp electrode is negative, electrons are emitted from the sharp electrode, and the electrons attach to neutral molecules to become negative ions.

Generally, in order to generate a corona discharge in a gas flow and extract a large ion flow, the ions generated at one electrode must be electrostatically attracted to the other electrode before they are removed from the system by a high-speed gas flow. It is necessary to carry away the ions. If the gas flow is weak, it is difficult to extract ionic current from the system, and there is also the problem that corona discharge turns into spark discharge.

In the device of this invention, an orifice is formed in the flat electrode,
A sharp electrode is placed opposite the orifice, and gas supplied from a high-pressure gas source passes through the orifice at high speed and exits into the atmosphere. therefore,
The ions produced by the corona discharge are carried away from the electrode by this high-velocity airflow and released into the atmosphere.

Therefore, a large ion current can be obtained without transitioning to spark discharge.

In this specification, the term "flat plate electrode" is used to refer to a sharp electrode, and does not refer only to an electrode that literally has a flat plate.

It is more effective for ions to attach to particles and then blow the particles away with the gas flow than to blow them off themselves. Saturated steam or mist water is effective as such particles. Therefore, the device of the invention may be provided with means for supplying saturated steam or mist water upstream of the orifice.

It should be noted that when the electric charge accumulated on the earth in this way is released into the atmosphere as an ion stream by this device, the electric charge on the earth decreases by that amount. That is, by releasing a large amount of ion current into the atmosphere, the electric charge on the earth is reduced, and the risk of lightning strikes on the earth is reduced.

Ions that are carried out between the electrodes along with the gas flow will quickly slow down if they are released directly into the sky.
Ions are electrostatically attracted to the charge in the thundercloud, but the force is very weak, and given that the distance to the thundercloud is several thousand meters, it is unlikely that they will reach the thundercloud. It is possible that the ions emitted from this device become a cloud of ions and stagnate near the ground. In this case, lightning from the thundercloud will be directed at the ions, and direct lightning to the ground will be avoided.

In this device, is it below the orifice? The A copper can be equipped with a blower that blows air upward. In this way, the ions ride the large amount of air current blown out from the blower and rise into the sky like sushi. Note that the higher the temperature of air, the lighter it is, and therefore the easier it is to reach the upper atmosphere. Therefore, in the present invention, a heating means for heating the gas sent out by the blower can be provided.

In this way, the ion stream rises high into the sky, and if it reaches a thundercloud, it can directly neutralize the electrical charge in the thundercloud and extinguish the lightning.

If the ion flow is disturbed by wind and does not reach the thundercloud directly, the earth's charge is released into the air, so the lightning strikes the ion cloud in the air, avoiding a lightning strike on the ground.

When the ion stream becomes sushi-shaped and rises high into the sky, it becomes more likely that lightning will strike the ion sushi (lightning effect).In that case, the lightning will follow the sushi and reach the ground, so the present invention If a lightning rod is installed near the ion emitting port of the device, lightning can be effectively absorbed or protected through this rod.

In this case, the earth's charge is discharged into the atmosphere, so
It has many advantages over regular lightning rods, including a wider protection range and the absence of various problems on the ground caused by lightning current.

(Example) In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical case with an open top, and a flat plate electrode 2 is placed inside the case. This electrode 2 has an orifice 2a in the center.

On the other hand, a sharp electrode 3 stands opposite the orifice 2a. There are various shapes of the sharp electrode 3, but here, one shaped like the head of a nail is used. These electrodes 2 and 3 are connected to a DC high-voltage voltage R4, and a main switch 5 and a polarity changeover switch 6 are provided between them. Reference numeral 7 is a control unit, and the control unit controls the electric field strength on the ground,
Monitor the polarity of the charge and control the main switch and transfer switch as necessary.

Note that one end of the DC high-voltage power supply 4 is grounded to the earth through a grounding wire 4a, and the electric charge of the earth follows this grounding wire and is emitted into the air in the form of an ion stream.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a high-pressure air tank as a high-pressure gas supply source, and a pipe 9 extending from there is connected to the orifice 2a in the case l.
is guided upstream. A valve 9a placed in the middle of the pipe is opened/closed and controlled by the control section 7. Reference numeral 10 is a compressor that fills air into the tank 8.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a pump for supplying water, and water is sprayed out from the tip of a nozzle 12 in the form of mist.

Reference numeral 13 is a blower, and reference numeral 14 is an air heater (for example, an oil-fired heater), both of which are controlled by the control unit 7.

In this device, the control section 7 determines that a thundercloud has occurred when the electric field on the ground exceeds a certain level, starts up the entire device, and switches the switch 6 according to the polarity of the electric charge on the ground. For example, when the charge accumulated on the ground is positive, the sharp electrode 3
A high voltage DC voltage is applied between the electrodes 2° and 3 with the voltage positive.

Corona discharge then occurs between the electrodes, producing positive ions.

On the other hand, water is blown out from the tip of the nozzle 12 into the cylinder as a mist. Positive ions adhere to these water droplets.

Further, air is blown out from the high-pressure tank 8 through the pipe 9 into the cylinder 1, and this air passes through the orifice 2a at a high speed of several tens of meters to several hundred meters per second. Water droplets with attached ions are carried out from between the electrodes by this air flow.

On the other hand, the blower 13 takes in air from outside and blows it out forcefully upward. When the 7° heating device 14 is activated, which releases ions high into the sky along with this air flow, the air becomes lighter and the ion flow reaches a higher altitude.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the present invention has the following effects.

The device according to claim 1 includes: a flat plate electrode having an orifice placed in the middle of a flow path whose end is open to the atmosphere; a sharp electrode facing the orifice; and applying a high-voltage DC voltage between the pair of electrodes. It consists of a DC power supply with one end grounded to the earth, and a high-pressure gas supply source that supplies high-pressure gas to the upstream side of the orifice, allowing ions generated by corona discharge to pass through the orifice at high speed. It can be carried away by a gas flow and a large ionic current can be obtained. By releasing a large amount of ions into the atmosphere in this way, the electric charge accumulated on the ground can be discharged into the sky, effectively preventing lightning from striking the ground.

The device according to claim 2 is provided with means for supplying saturated water vapor or mist water to the upstream side of the orifice, and since ions adhere to the water vapor or water droplets, they are easily blown away by the gas flow and form a large layer. Ionic current can be obtained.

The device according to claim 3 is equipped with a blower on the downstream side of the orifice, and can cause ions to rise high into the sky in a sushi-like shape by being carried by a large flow of air blown out from the blower. It is possible to make lightning.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heating means for heating the gas sent out by the blower, which lightens the air and allows the ions to reach a higher place.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a lightning protection device according to the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A flat plate electrode (2) forming an orifice (2a) placed in the middle of a flow path whose end is open to the atmosphere, and a sharp electrode (a) facing the orifice; Ion consists of a DC power supply (4) whose one end is grounded to apply a high-voltage DC voltage between these pair of electrodes, and a high-pressure gas supply source (7) that supplies high-pressure gas to the upstream side of the orifice. Active emission type lightning protection device. 2. The ion active emission type lightning protection device according to claim 1, further comprising means (10) for supplying saturated water vapor or mist water to the upstream side of the orifice. 3. The ion active emission type lightning protection device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a blower (12) that blows out the ions discharged from the orifice upward together with the air. 4. The ion active emission type lightning protection device according to claim 3, further comprising heating means (13) for heating the gas sent out by the blower.