Sensor Guard Surge Protection
See pricing on the following Sensor Guards SG01 SG02 SG03
Sensor Guard is designed to provide the highest level of protection for sensitive electronic devices against surge events caused by direct lightning strikes and Ground Potential Rise (GPR) due to ground strikes. It also protects from power supply voltage drops (brown outs) which cause current surges leading to equipment malfunction and/or failure. In conjunction with any Surge Protection Devices (SPD’s) already deployed, Sensor Guard protects against all electrical supply and lightning incidents, delivering significant reductions in capital expenditure on replacement equipment. Through the alarm functionality provided, control of system outages and engineer deployments is significantly enhanced, substantially reducing operational costs.
How SensorGuard Works.
SensorGuard consists of two integral pieces: the central control module which controls the power, monitors the power grid and activates the power interrupt circuit; and the lightning sensor which is fiber optically linked to the control module.
The lightning sensor is located at some distance from the main SensorGuard unit, housed in its own enclosure. Its sole function is to monitor for the unique electrical characteristics produced by lightning ground strike activity or the static charge field produced in and around the formation period of the lightning channel just prior to the actual lightning strike. The sensor is designed to detect only cloud to ground lightning activity while ignoring cloud-to-cloud activity, which is not a threat. The sensor is able to detect lightning ground strike activity up to 15 miles from the sensor’s location, affording the ability to detect the storm approach and take preemptive action.
When a lightning event is detected, a light pulse is sent from the sensor to the control module via the fiber optic cable, which initiates a shut down command and opens the isolating relay on the power feed. The control module also has an adjustable timer, which allows the user to adjust the down time (open circuit isolation period). The typical range of this timer is 15 seconds to 15 minutes with a recommended time setting of approximately 3 to 4 minutes. If during this down time period no further strike events or power anomaly events are detected, power is automatically restored to the site. The sensitivity on the lightning sensor is adjustable from 1 to 15 miles typically.
In addition to protecting the main power entry point to a site or equipment, the system can also interface with satellite or auxiliary protection modules that can be configured to protect a wide range of peripheral devices from a central unit.
Installation
The main control module installs into the power service after the main breaker panel and behind any surge protection device(s) on the equipment side. SensorGuard can be adapted to off-the-shelf enclosures or simply mounted on a back plane.