A passive opto-electronic lightning sensor based on electromagnetic field detection for utilities applications

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a passive optical lightning sensor for utilities applications. The main sensor application is for the location of lightning strikes in overhead power lines, but it can also be used in substations or in power generation plants. The proposed sensor detects lightning indirectly by means of detecting lightning electromagnetic pulses, which are used to modulate directly a semiconductor laser coupled to a fibre optic pigtail. No solar panels, batteries or electronic control circuits are necessary to implement this sensing technique. This paper shows the results of the sensor characterization made only in laboratory and the possibilities of its use in an optical WDM sensor network.

Lightning monitoring system for sustainable energy supply: A review

“…Rosolem [37] proposed using a passive optical lightning sensor to detect lightning's electromagnetic pulses. This sensor was mainly designed to indirectly monitor lightning strikes on overhead power lines, substations or power generation plants.…”

Health monitoring of electric power communication line using a distributed optical fiber sensor

“…So, advanced sensing instruments and technologies should be the best choice to replace the work by manpower. Actually, many lightning stroke location methods have been proposed and experimentally demonstrated, such as use of Faraday effect to sense the change of electro-magnetic field caused by lightning stroke [1][2][3], and the method by monitoring the state of polarization (SOP) of probe light to analyze the lightning incident [4,5]. However, the lightning stroke location method by Faraday Effect is not appropriate when the sensors are set in the environment with strong electro-magnetic interference and it is not a distributed sensing method, which makes the cost for lightning stroke location unacceptable.…”

Development and Application of Integrated Optical Sensors for Intense E-Field Measurement

“…The antennas that are widely used in RF field tests are not appropriate for intense E-field detection. Various types of E-field sensors have been developed based on the modulation of LD or LED [ 13 , 14 ]. Sensors with small dimensions and wide frequency bandwidths have been produced, but these types of sensors are made mostly of metal material, which causes large interferences to the original field.…”