Lightning protection technology for aircrafts continues to receive considerable industry attention. Lightning can stress an aircraft both electrically and through the thermo-mechanical effect on aircraft components. Numerical tools for modeling aircraft lightning strikes, however, still lack reliable experimental data.
Andraud et al. developed a direct current-to-direct current (DC-DC) converter with the appropriate topology to create an accurate, efficient, and compact current-regulated lightning generator. Investigating different topologies of DC high-current generators, the group was able to reproduce continuous lightning current waveforms to produce electric arcs up to 1.5 meter long.
The paper provides results that will allow the study of the swept stroke phenomenon, in which the motion of the lightning impact area on the plane is affected by relative motion between lightning and the aircraft, said author Rafael Sousa Martins.
“The paper also presents the implementation of overvoltage transient protection circuits that are not available in the literature for this magnitude of electric power,” he said. “Thus, we formed current regulated lightning arcs with a degree of robustness that was not found in the literature of lightning arcs.”
The generator can form electric arcs in line with the lightning wave forms commonly experienced by aircraft. To assist the generator design, an electrical model for these arcs was developed leading to an equivalent resistor varying from 4 to 8 ohms.
Sousa Martins said the approach could be relevant to many other fields that involve large outdoor equipment or installations. They are looking to pair the generator with devices that accelerate an aeronautical sample up to typical velocities of takeoff and landing.
Source: “Design and implementation of DC-to-DC converter topology for current regulated lightning generator,” by V. Andraud, R. Sousa Martins, C. Zaepffel, R. Landfried, and P. Testé, Review of Scientific Instruments (2021). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0060247.
