The installation of lightning detection sensor systems involves a large volume of resources. However, the absence of these systems can lead to irreparable damage, such as the death of a person. How to reduce the costs of implementing these systems to protect workers and citizens or even public and private equipment? Usually, this problem is not solved on a formal level, but based on the intuition of the involved specialists, without applying optimization techniques. Taking this into account, this research explores the theoretical structure of locational optimization methods to propose a simplified heuristic method that does not require any programming skills for its application. Specifically, its use directly demonstrated by reducing costs of preventive lightning systems in an area containing 41 mines. All mines must be covered by the sensor system which has a coverage radius of 10 km. The experimental results demonstrate that the application of this method generates more effective results than those obtained using known methods of locational optimization. The method proposed in this research contributes directly to reduce costs of preventive lightning systems and indirectly to protect workers in mining areas as well as to protect populations in urban areas where the frequency and incidence of lightning is especially high.
Statistics show that Brazil is the country with the highest incidence of atmospheric discharges in the world. Only in 2020 and 2021, there were 280 million lightning strikes in the country. On average, there are 110 deaths and 300 injuries per year, according to INPE, based on the period between 2000 and 2019, when there were 2,194 deaths due to the occurrence of atmospheric discharges. Private sector investments have been made in an attempt to predict this phenomenon to minimize the impacts caused. One of the ways to monitor lightning is through electric field sensors. In this way, the objective of this work was to carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the relationship between electric field data and atmospheric discharges for an area in the central region of the state of Minas Gerais. As a result, it was found that a system for generating alarms using only the electric field sensor should be used with caution since numerous cases of discharges were seen in which there was no variation in the electric field at the same time. On the other hand, the electric field can help in the decision-making of the system, if used in conjunction with lightning data. Resumo: As estatísticas mostram que o Brasil é o país com maior incidência de descargas atmosféricas no mundo. Somente nos anos de 2020 e 2021, ocorreram 280 milhões de raios no País. Em média são 110 mortos e 300 feridos a cada ano, segundo o INPE, tendo como base o período entre 2000 e 2019 quando ocorreram 2.194 óbitos devido a ocorrência das descargas atmosféricas. Investimentos do setor privado vêm sendo realizado na tentativa da predição desse fenômeno para minimizar os impactos causados. Uma das formas de se monitorar raios é por meio de sensores de campo elétrico. Desta forma, o objetivo desse trabalho é realizar uma análise qualitativa e quantitativa da relação entre dados de campo elétrico e de descargas atmosféricas para uma área na região central do estado de Minas Gerais. Como resultados, verificou-se que um sistema para geração de alarmes utilizando somente o sensor de campo elétrico deve ser empregado com cautela, uma vez que, foi visto inúmeros casos de ocorrências de descargas em que no mesmo instante não houve variação do campo elétrico. Em contrapartida, o campo elétrico pode vir a auxiliar na tomada de decisão do sistema, caso seja utilizado em conjunto com os dados de descargas atmosféricas.
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