Measurement of Lightning Current by Magnetizing Effect of Magnetic Tape

Abstract

The experiment of rocket-triggered lightning has succeeded to guide a lightning to a test power transmission line tower in 1986. By this success, it became possible to measure the lightning current flowing through the ground wire and each leg of tower simultaneously, and also to study the shield to the lightning stroke to the line. In the triggered lightning experiment to the line or tower, it is needed to measure the lightning current at the discharge stroke channel in air directly by the current measuring device carried by a small rocket. For the purpose, a new method using the magnetizing effect of magnetic tape by the lightning current was developed as a small and light device carried by the rocket.
In this paper, the characteristics and accuracy of the device are described with the measured results in the triggered lightning experiment to the test power transmission line in comparison with the results measured by Rogowski coil.