Lightning Protection Design of Guangzhou Tower

The lightning protection design of the Guangzhou Tower has recently attracted attention. The Guangzhou tower lightning protection system designer stated that the lightning protection design of the Guangzhou tower exceeded the general construction, and the lightning protection capability of some equipment reached the same level as the arsenal.

Whenever there is a thunderstorm, many Guangzhou citizens will see the shocking picture of the 600-meter-high Canton Tower docked with a “fire dragon”. Many people think that this is a lightning hit the Canton Tower, Guangzhou Tower rely on lightning protection devices to resolve it.

Lin Peiyang, the Guangzhou tower lightning protection system designer and the senior engineer of the Guangzhou Design Institute, stressed in particular that it was “taking lightning” instead of “being struck by lightning”. He explained that "take lightning" is an active contact between the building and the thunder and lightning, and no loss will be caused; and "lightning strikes" will be a result of the building being attacked by a thunder and causing damage.

According to Dr. Chen Luwen from the Guangdong Lightning Protection Center, the area where the Canton Tower is located belongs to the strong thunderstorm area, and the height of the cumulonimbus cloud layer that produces lightning is 500 meters to 800 meters. In thunderstorms, the upper part of the tower of Guangzhou, which is up to 600 meters in size, is located inside the thundercloud. With the effect of cutting-edge discharges, the Guangzhou Tower is inevitably “flighting” when the cumulonimbus clouds arrive.

Liang Shuo, general manager of Guangzhou New TV Tower Construction Co., Ltd., said that in order to prevent passengers riding on the Ferris wheel from being struck by lightning, Guangzhou Tata Top commissioned the Guangdong Provincial Lightning Protection Center to develop a lightning warning system for the Ferris wheel.

Dr. Chen Luwen from the Guangdong Lightning Protection Center stated that during the trial operation of the system, several thunderstorms had been successfully monitored and early warning. However, since the first time the lightning monitoring and early warning work was carried out on such a high-rise building, It is also necessary to conduct more in-depth cooperation with the management of the Guangzhou Tower and continuously improve the accuracy of the warning.

Liang Shuo said that when a thunderstorm suddenly comes, if tourists are playing on the Spider-Man's boardwalk along the tower or on the top of a Ferris wheel and downhill seat, they will be evacuated quickly; tickets purchased may be deferred or retired. Indoor viewing is very safe and will not be affected.

“The lightning protection design of the Guangzhou Tower exceeded the requirements of the existing building's lightning protection technical standards, and the lightning protection capability of some of the devices even reached the level of the arsenal.” Lin Peiyang said.

The lightning protection lightning receiving device is specially arranged on the tower antenna mast, and a lightning protection grid is designed on the top of the tower body. Together with the metal steel outer cylinder of the tower body and the grounding grid at the bottom of the tower, it forms a lightning conducting line. Even if direct lightning strikes do not cause damage to the tower.

In order to prevent the sides of the tower from being struck by lightning, the metal railings, metal doors, windows and glass curtain walls of the tower are directly connected with the lightning protection device of the tower to ensure that the current brought by the side-impact lightning can also be passed along the lightning protection device. Lead to the ground.

The electromagnetic pulse brought by thunder and lightning will also cause interference to the electronic equipment inside the tower, which will cause the fire alarm and linkage system, public broadcasting system, computer network, communication network and cable television network in the tower to malfunction. For this reason, the inside of the tower Electronic equipment also adopted measures such as grounding, shielding, and installing surge protectors.