IEC 62793-2020 Protection against lightning – Thunderstorm warning systems.
This standard includes:
• a general description of available lightning and storm electrification hazard warning systems;
• a classification of thunderstorm detection devices and properties;
• guidelines for alarming methods;
• a procedure to determine the usefulness of thunderstorm information;
• some informative examples of possible preventive actions.
The following aspects are outside the scope of this standard:
a) lightning protection systems; such systems are covered by the IEC 62305 series;
b) other thunderstorm related phenomena such as rain, hail, wind;
c) satellite and radar thunderstorm detection techniques.
A non-exhaustive list of situations to which this standard could be applicable is given below:
• people in open areas involved in activities such as maintenance, labour, sports,competitions, agriculture and fisheries or situations where large crowds gather;
• wind farms, large solar power systems, power lines;
• occupational health and safety prevention;
• sensitive equipment such as computer systems, emergency systems, alarms and safety equipment;
• operational and industrial processes;
• storage, processing and transportation of hazardous substances (e.g. flammable, radioactive, toxic and explosive substances);
• determined environments or activities with special danger of electrostatic discharges (e.g.
space and flight vehicle operations);
• operations in which the continuity of the basic services is very important (e.g. telecommunications, the generation, transport and distribution of energy, sanitary services and emergency services);
• infrastructures: ports, airports, railroads, motorways and cableways;
• civil defense of the environment: forest fires, land slide and floods;
• wide networks (e.g. power lines, telecommunication lines) may also benefit from having
early detection of thunderstorms.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and
are indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 62305 (all parts), Protection against lightning
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1 .1 alarm
information indicating that the target or the surrounding area is likely to be affected by thunderstorms and the accompanying lightning related events
3.1 .2 cloud-to-ground lightning
CG electric discharge of atmospheric origin that is comprised of one or more cloud-to-ground lightning strokes that propagate from cloud to ground or vice versa and lead to a net transfer of charge between cloud and ground
3.1 .3 coverage area
CA area where a given warning equipment has a sufficient detection efficiency and/or accuracy to give a warning
3.1 .4 detection efficiency
DE percentage of cloud-to-ground discharges (flashes or strokes) that are detected and located by a sensor or a network.IEC 62793 pdf download.