ESE Air Terminal

Early streamer emission (ESE) air terminals are especially effective for lightning protection of industrial sites, administrative or public buildings, monuments and open-air sites such as sports grounds.

During a storm, when propagation field conditions are favorable, an OPR ESE air terminal will generate an upward leader. This upward leader from the OPR tip propagates towards the downward leader from the cloud at an average speed of 1 m/µs.

This emission of an early streamer to a lightning event delivers a beneficial triggering time compared to a single rod air terminal exposed to the same conditions. The beneficial triggering time is determined as the average time gained at the moment of spark-over, with efficiency confirmed by high-voltage laboratory testing. All ESE tests are defined in Annex C of the French standard NF C 17-102 (2011 Version).

How to choose your ESE lightning arrester?

The radius of protection Rp of a OPR is given by the French standard NF C 17-102
of July 1995. It depends on the initiation advance ΔT of the OPR measured in the high voltage Laboratory, on the levels of protection I, II, III or IV calculated
according to the lightning risk assessment guides or standards (IEC 62305-2) and on the height h of the lightning conductor over the area to be protected (minimum
height = 2m).

The advantage of ESE air terminal

The unique efficiency of the ESE
lightning conductor is based on a
specific initiation advance ; well before the natural formation of an upward leader, the ESE lightning arrester generates a leader that rapidly propagates to capture the lightning and direct it to earth.
Validated in laboratory, this gain in
time relative to the simple rod provides additional essential protection.

Installation of Early Streamer Emission lightning conductor (ESE lightning arrester)