Boltek EFM-100 Installation And Operator'S Manual Download Page 35 | Manualshive

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C H A P T E R 4 - O P E R A T I O N

29

Interpreting the Data Display

Often the first indication of an approaching thundercloud is a positive field reading followed by a

field reversal to a negative field as the cloud moves overhead.

Figure 24: Approaching Thundercloud

Figure 25: Increasing Field due to Approaching Thundercloud

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Summary of Contents for EFM-100

Page 1: ...EFM100 1000120 032311 BOLTEK CORPORATION Lightning Detection EFM 100 Atmospheric Electric Field Monitor Installation Operators Guide ...

Page 2: ...rd parties as a result of use misuse accident or abuse Notwithstanding the above Boltek Corp s liability shall not exceed the purchase price of the equipment THIS EQUIPMENT IS NOT TO BE USED FOR SAFETY PURPOSES USE OF THIS PRODUCT SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE ACCEPTANCE OF BOLTEK S STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS ENCLOSED AND AVAILABLE AT WWW BOLTEK COM IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS AND CO...

Page 3: ...ing antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help WARNING The connection of a non shielded equipment interface cable to this equipment will invalidate the FCC Certification of this device and may cause in...

Page 4: ...ision Antennas in the Yellow Pages LIGHTNING HAZARD EPM 1 connections are not optically isolated from the roof mounted field mill Dangerous voltages may occur should lightning strike at or near the field mill IMPORTANT The EFM 100 field mill needs to be grounded for proper operation and for lightning and electrical safety Connect the field mill green ground wire and the field mill mounting hardwar...

Page 5: ...T FIBER OPTIC CONNECTORS 11 CALCULATING A PRECISE SENSITIVITY VALUE 14 GROUNDING DETAIL 15 CONFIGURING THE SOFTWARE 17 EFM OPTIONS GENERAL 17 EFM OPTIONS HIGH FIELD ALARM 19 EFM OPTIONS VERY HIGH FIELD ALARM 20 EFM OPTIONS LIGHTNING ALARM 22 EFM OPTIONS DATA LOGGING 23 EFM OPTIONS DATA SHARING 24 OPERATION 27 INTERPRETING THE DATA DISPLAY 29 MAINTENANCE 33 TROUBLESHOOTING 35 EFM 100 DATA FORMAT 37...

Page 6: ...ns 12 Figure 14 Sensitivity Plugs 13 Figure 15 Correcting a Field Mill using a Reference Field Mill 14 Figure 16 Field Mill Grounding Detail 16 Figure 17 EFM Options General 17 Figure 18 EFM Options High Field Alarm 19 Figure 19 EFM Options Very High Field Alarm 20 Figure 20 EFM Options Lightning Alarm 22 Figure 21 EFM Options Data Logging 23 Figure 22 EFM Options Data Sharing 24 Figure 23 EFM 100...

Page 7: ...s may be erroneous and should not be used to safeguard personnel equipment or data Up to four field mills can be monitored using the included software Field mills can be directly connected to the display computer USB or COM port or connected to a remote computer with data transmitted over a network Your EFM 100 package should contain 1 EFM 100 field mill 1 fiber optic cable Standard length 100 fee...

Page 8: ...ou can feel your hair stand on end if this happens outdoors during a thunderstorm crouch down with your feet together as you are about to be struck by lightning An electric field is what attracts your hair to a charged comb or a charged balloon Electric field is measured in Volts per meter 1 meter 3 28 feet The electric fields which accompany thunderstorms normally measure in the thousands of Volt...

Page 9: ... etc will collect around the sense electrodes and contaminate the electrode insulators Figure 1 Electric Field Mill at Ground Level Mounting the electric field mill above the ground surface will enhance the electric field resulting than an incorrect high reading Sensitivity Plugs are provided to reduce the sensitivity of your field mill and compensate for the higher field mill readings Figure 2 In...

Page 10: ...he plates through a sense resistor When the sense plates are shielded from the field the charge flows back to ground again through the sense resistor This moving charge is an electric current which is measured as an AC voltage across the sense resistor The size of the voltage is proportional to the size of the electric field applied to the plates Figure 3 Field Mill Block Diagram Charge flowing on...

Page 11: ...re permanently mounting the sensor unit Install the software on your computer and connect the field mill as shown below The field mill should respond to charged objects brought near it Most plastic objects can be easily charged by rubbing them on your clothes Figure 4 EFM 100 Connection Diagram Chapter 2 ...

Page 12: ...sh when prompted by Windows to complete the installation If the Found New Hardware Wizard did not appear in step 2 Open Device Manager by doing the following a Click on Start and then Control Panel b Switch to Classic View if in Category View c Double click on System d Select the Hardware tab e Press the Device Manager button Under Port COM LPT look for a USB Device entry with a yellow exclamation...

Page 13: ...xperienced antenna installer See Television Antennas in the Yellow Pages Choosing an Outdoor Mounting Location If possible choose a mounting location for your field mill which will provide easy access for maintenance While your field mill should run for many years with little or no maintenance cleaning or de icing may occasionally become necessary A location which is easy to access can make this a...

Page 14: ...all object will shield the field mill sensor Figure 5 A poor choice of mounting locations Avoid mounting the field mill in a location where it will be shielded by buildings tree or other tall objects Mount your field mill with similar considerations given to an anemometer Figure 6 An excellent choice of mounting locations ...

Page 15: ...ctors Field Mill Power Cable Connector Connect the black cable from the EPM 1 Power Module s field mill power connector to the field mill power connector The cable supplies 12VDC to the field mill and carries the analog output signals back to the EPM 1 See the Lightning Hazard caution in the EPM 1 Analog Output section of this manual Power Supply Connector Connect the provided 12VDC power supply t...

Page 16: ...ectly connected to the field mill and a lightning hazard exists at those connections LIGHTNING HAZARD EPM 1 connections are not optically isolated from the roof mounted field mill Dangerous voltages may occur should lightning strike at or near the field mill Figure 8 EPM 1 Voltmeter Connections Differential Preferred Connection If a differential connection is not possible a single ended connection...

Page 17: ...ts this optical data stream to an electrical signal compatible with your computer s RS232 COM port A USB adapter cable is provided to convert this RS232 signal to USB if a USB connection is preferred ST Fiber Optic Connectors The EFM 100 transmits its data over a fiber optic cable The fiber optic cable uses St style connectors on each end Figure 11 Female Fiber Optic Connector If the field mill in...

Page 18: ...way in the female connector before inserting the male connector into the female connector Insert the male connector into the female connector and rotate the locking collar until you feel the tabs stop in the detents Figure 12 Male Fiber Optic Connector Figure 13 EFM 100 Field Mill Connections ...

Page 19: ...ill it is important to properly ground the field mill and the field mill mount The field mill is grounded through the green ground wire The field mill mounting hardware mast and or tripod needs to be grounded though suitable sized copper ground wire to your building central ground point See Grounding Detail for more information Sensitivity Connector The sensitivity connector accepts a sensitivity ...

Page 20: ... is to temporarily run two field mills simultaneously a temporary reference field mill and the permanent field mill The temporary reference field mill is mounted flush with the surface of the ground to prevent the electric field enhancement which occurs when objects are mounted above the ground The permanent field mill is mounted in its permanent location The correction factor needed is equal to t...

Page 21: ...larm sensitivity or increased to reduce the frequency of nuisance alarms Grounding Detail The EFM 100 field mill needs to be grounded for proper operation and for lightning and electrical safety Connect the connector end of the green ground wire to the field mill ground connector Connect the other end of the green ground wire and the field mill mounting hardware to your building s central ground t...

Page 22: ...C H A P T E R 2 I N S T A L L A T I O N 16 Figure 16 Field Mill Grounding Detail ...

Page 23: ...General Number of Data Sources Enter the number of field mills for which you would like to display data The minimum number is 1 field mill The maximum number is four field mills If you have more than four field mills you will require a second computer for each additional four field mills creating a multi monitor display Chapter 3 ...

Page 24: ...Serial USB or Network Select Serial USB for field mills connected to the computer directly Select Network to display the data from a remote computer Com Port For field mills connected directly to the computer select the COM port allocated to the connection For field mills connected using a RS232 COM port this is usually COM1 or COM2 For USB connected field mills this is usually COM3 COM9 Network F...

Page 25: ... Field Alarm For example with a setpoint of 1 kV m the alarm will activate if the field goes above 1 kV m or below 1 kV m Delay The High Field Alarm Delay is the length of time the field magnitude must remain above the setpoint before the alarm is activated If the electric field magnitude drops below the setpoint before the delay expires the delay timer will be reset For example with a delay of 30...

Page 26: ...und when the High Field Alarm activates Clear the checkbox to disable the playing of the WAV sound WAV Filename The WAV Filename is the file which will play out the computer speakers when the High Field Alarm is activated Click on the Browse icon to select the WAV file from a list Click on the Play icon to listen to the selected WAV file WAV Repeat Interval Enter the number of seconds between repe...

Page 27: ...mer will be reset For example with a delay of 30 seconds and setpoint of 1 kV m the electric field must remain above 1 kV m or below 1 kV m for 30 seconds before the alarm activates Duration Very High Field Alarm Duration is the length of time the Very High Field Alarm will remain active once the field drops below the alarm setpoint WAV File Checkbox Check the checkbox to enable the playing of WAV...

Page 28: ...g Alarm Checkbox Check this checkbox to enable the Lightning Alarm for the currently selected field mill Duration Lightning Alarm Duration is the length of time the lightning alarm will remain active after a lightning event is detected For the Lightning Alarm to clear there must be no lightning events detected for the period of the lightning alarm duration WAV Repeat Interval Enter the number of m...

Page 29: ...o select the WAV file from a list Click on the Play icon to listen to the selected WAV file Lightning Alarm Range Rings Displays the Lightning distance rings in the EFM software Press the button to add a new distance ring or press the button to remove a set distance ring Select the distance units by clicking either the Miles or Kilometers radio button EFM Options Data Logging Figure 21 EFM Options...

Page 30: ...files have a filename consisting of the field mill name the file date and a efm suffix For example Shop Roof 03252004 efm Data files are comma delimited ASCII text files allowing the files to be loaded into spreadsheets or other third party software High Resolution Checkbox When the High Resolution box is checked it will store the EFM 100 data 20 times per second Leaving it unchecked will store th...

Page 31: ...eld mill data with others If enabled your EFM 100 software will list on the Listen Port for incoming connections Once a connection has been made the software will begin transmitting field mill data to the remote computer There is no limit to the number of concurrent connections Listen Port This is the port on which your computer will listen for incoming connections Each field mill being shared on ...

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Page 33: ... a network connection with the remote computer s EFM 100 display software in order to receive the remote data When Data Sharing is enabled the display software will accept remote connections and deliver its field mill data over those connections for others to view To start the EFM 100 display software select Start All Programs Boltek EFM 100 Electric Field Monitor Figure 23 EFM 100 Software Displa...

Page 34: ...tric field Zoom Handles are used for zooming in on an area of interest in the trend graph There are zoom handles for magnifying the display horizontally the time axis or vertically the amplitude axis Click and drag a zoom handle to adjust The Current Field Reading is the amplitude of the electric field at the present time The current field reading is updated approximately once per second The Time ...

Page 35: ...splay Often the first indication of an approaching thundercloud is a positive field reading followed by a field reversal to a negative field as the cloud moves overhead Figure 24 Approaching Thundercloud Figure 25 Increasing Field due to Approaching Thundercloud ...

Page 36: ... 4 O P E R A T I O N 30 Figure 26 Thundercloud Directly Overhead Figure 27 Electric Field Polarity Reversal With the thundercloud directly overhead the polarity of the field has reversed to a negative electric field ...

Page 37: ...nd of Storm Oscillation Once the cloud has passed over the field will often reverse back to positive before decaying to a normal fair weather electric field reading of about 0 1 kV m This field reversal at the end of the storm has been referred to as the End of Storm Oscillation ESO ...

Page 38: ...1 Precipitation Noise Rain snow and dust can carry an electric charge If charged particles contact the field mill sense plates the electric charge will transfer from the particle to the sense plate and will be detected as noise on the field mill reading During periods of heavy rain the precipitation noise can get quite severe Once the storm passes the noise will disappear Precipitation noise can r...

Page 39: ...l that is necessary In most installations even that will not be necessary as rain will wash away any accumulated dirt Periodically inspect your field mill to ensure the Teflon insulators are free from dirt or contamination Watch for spider webs or other debris which could short an electrode to ground the case Figure 32 Field Mill Cleaning Chapter 5 ...

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Page 41: ...ng from the field mill down the fiber optic cable Check the power supply to the field mill It may be possible to see the optical signal coming down the fiber At the computer unplug the fiber optic ST connector from the EFA 10 Fiber Optic Adapter If the field mill is transmitting data the signal should be visible as a faint red dot in the center of the connector s white tip As the dot is very small...

Page 42: ...r Fault The field mill rotor may have become obstructed If the rotor becomes coated with ice during a freezing rain ice storm you can wait for the ice to melt naturally it wouldn t be safe to try and clear the ice manually when the ground and roof are ice covered The field mill will not be damaged by a jammed rotor and will begin to work normally once the ice melts away Problem Data often appears ...

Page 43: ...onverts the optical signal to standard RS232 at 9600 baud 8 data bits no parity 1 stop bit Electric Field Sentence p ee ee f cs cr lf p polarity of electric field or ee ee electric field level 00 00 to 20 00 f fault 0 Normal 1 Rotor Fault cs checksum in hex 00 to FF cr carriage return lf line feed Example 00 33 0 C9 Represents 0 33kV m with no faults Checksum can be ignored for most applications A...

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Page 45: ...mat S EE EE C CR LF S sign or C checksum E electric field CR carriage return LF line feed Example 02 34 3A RS232 9600 baud 8 bits 1 stop bit no parity Analog Data Output Differential 1V per kV m Single Ended 0 5V per kV m DC Power Supply 12 15 VDC 0 5 Amps AC Power Supply 120 VAC 60Hz 220VAC 50 HZ in Europe Motor Type Ball Bearing Brushless DC Motor Mount 3 4 NPT Threaded Pipe Note 3 4 NPT measure...

Page 46: ...ndows XP 2000 NT 98 95 Alarms High Field Alarm Very High Field Alarm Lightning Alarm High Field Alarm Range 0 to 20 kV m Very High Field Alarm Range 0 to 20 kV m History Graph 5 min 15 min 30 min 1 hour 2 hour 4 hour 8 hour 24 hour Handles on the graph for zooming in Vertical Scales 0 5 kV m 1 kV m 2 kV m 5kV m 7 5 kV m 10 kV m 15 kV m 20kV m Handles on the graph for zooming in ...

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