Three ITB Alumni Successfully Build a Lightning Tamer System for PLN Towers
An illustration of PLN's innovative transmission tower protection system, called Isolated Ground Shield Wire. The innovation was developed by a team from PT Tesla Daya Elektrika, a tenant at LPIK ITB.
Illustration of an innovative PLN transmission tower protection system called Isolated Ground Shield Wire. The innovation was developed by a team from PT Tesla Daya Elektrika who is a tenant at LPIK ITB.
TRIBUNJABAR.CO.ID, BANDUNG- In a year, a PLN transmission tower can apparently be struck by lightning dozens of times.
Not infrequently, lightning strikes cause disruption to PLN's transmission towers because the existing protection system is less effective.
Starting from this problem, Dr Ir Djoko Darwanto (STEI Electrical Engineering Study Program), together with his team consisting of Muhammad Fattah Aziiz, Gumilang Dewananta, and Achmad Arbi (alumni of the STEI Electrical Power Engineering study program) who are alumni of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) developed an innovative transmission tower protection system.
They joined the start-up company PT Tesla Daya Elektrika.
The company developed a system called I-GSW High Voltage for protection on high-voltage transmission towers and I-GSW Medium Voltage for protection on medium-voltage distribution towers. I-GSW stands for Isolated Ground Shield Wire.
"This innovation is a system. So it consists of four tools or components," said Muhammad Fattah Aziiz when met by Tribun Jabar at the office of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development of the Bandung Institute of Technology (LPIK-ITB), Jalan Ganesha, Bandung, Wednesday (4/10/2017).
This transmission tower protection system, he added, consists of four components: finials, insulators, down conductors, and resistance electrodes. It works by preventing lightning from striking the transmission tower because the electrical voltage is directly isolated through the finials and insulators.
The electrical voltage is then transferred to the ground by down conductors. Next, grounding electrodes neutralize the lightning's electricity in the ground. The grounding electrodes are placed quite far from the tower, approximately 3-5 meters away.
Usually, said Fattah, transmission towers that do not have a good protection system will experience disruptions because electricity from lightning strikes is not isolated.
"The electricity from a lightning strike isn't isolated. It's even channeled into the ground near the tower. So the electricity from the lightning is still present around the tower," said Fattah.
To date, Fattah said, the innovation his team created has been applied to several transmission towers owned by PLN Kupang. His team is also working to market it directly to several PLNs in each region.
"The advantage of our system is that it's much cheaper than our competitors. Their prices can be over Rp 200 million. Ours is around Rp 80-100 million because all the components are made domestically," said Fattah.
This innovation, continued Fattah, has been developed since the end of 2015.
"We are currently in the process of registering a patent under ITB. We (Tesla Daya Elektrika) are still registered as a tenant at LPIK ITB. Registration began in early 2016," he said.
This innovative product, which received funding from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti) and ITB, also won first place in the Swiss Innovation Challenge 2017 competition at the Sheraton Bandung Hotel & Towers, Friday (22/09/2017).
In fact, at the end of October, Fattah will travel to Switzerland to present his innovative product at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. (*)