Streamer Delaying
Air Terminal

The Streamer Delaying Air Terminals (SDT) are engineered to delay the formation of streamers that can initiate a lightning strike. It thus reduces the likelihood of lightning strike on the facility they are installed on.

Streamer Delaying Air Terminals are designed using stainless steel wire with less than 0.1mm diameter, appropriate wire length and geometry at the tip of the air terminal to operate as an IONIZER that has the capability to create stable streamer-free corona under a wide ambient field range. The IONIZER of the SDT distributes the current at the tip of each stainless steel wire. Under negative cloud polarity, this results in ionization of the surrounding air and continuous release of positive ions. As the ionized air around the SDT starts to drift outwards and ionize adjacent molecules a shielding space charge cloud is created around the SDT air terminal. This shielding space charge is accompanied with a neutralization of the object on which the SDT are installed.

SDT must be installed with a proper grounding system at the protected facility. A low resistance, and low impedance grounding system assists in the SDT in a quick space charge cloud formation. The SDT are installed with a spacing of 15ft in accordance to IEC 62305 Level 1 Lightning Protection.