27 Jul 2016
Thunderstorms have proved to be a fatal issue across the world, with countries’ death tolls significantly rising due to lightning strikes each year, though many countries are yet to consider thunderstorms to be a natural calamity.
In India in particular, lightning is considered to be responsible for at least 10% of deaths by natural calamities each year. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau show that since 2005 at least 2,000 deaths were associated with lightning every year.
The lack of understanding or knowledge of the severity of thunderstorms indicates why very little detection or safety equipment is installed by governments or businesses, mostly due to the fear of reliability, or misunderstanding the crucial and potentially life-saving benefits.
Biral, a UK-based meteorological specialist has addressed this uncertainty and has developed the BTD-300 thunderstorm detection unit that boasts unrivalled reliability, and the impressive ability to detect a lightning risk within a 56 mile radius.
The BTD-300 system is created to the highest engineering standards so that the reliability and detection abilities are not compromised in any condition. Many Met Offices, aviation offices, ports and offshore platforms have installed the equipment to help detect lightning at a distance and warn personnel to take the required risk assessment protocol.
The basic sensor detects and ranges both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The ability to reliably detect and range cloud-to-cloud lightning, which is typically much more common than cloud-to-ground strikes, makes the BTD-300 much more sensitive to the presence of storms compared to devices that rely on radio detection. As cloud-to-cloud lightning often precedes cloud-to-ground the sensor can give the user earlier warnings of lightning risk.
The electrostatic operating principle allows the sensor to detect charged precipitation and the presence of strong electric fields, both of which are indicators of lightning risk. In this way the BTD-300 can warn of the risk of overhead lightning before the first discharge occurs.
By monitoring the slow-varying electrostatic field rather than relying on radio wave detection the BTD-300 is almost immune to electromagnetic interference which is the major cause of false alarms for radio based detectors.
Virtually maintenance free in operation, the BTD 300 can either interface directly to an integrated system or be operated using the supplied PC compatible display and logging software. The optional warning relay module allows the sensor to automatically sound alarms whenever a storm approaches.
Further information is available from Biral on +44 1275 847787, email: enquiries@biral.com or by visiting the company’s website at www.biral.com
