Lightning protection of China railway vehicle running safety monitor system - Internet of Things in lightning protection

In recent years, with the rapid expansion of China railway construction which accelerate the increasing numbers of railroad monitoring station and the development of the Internet of Things, the lightning protection of railway becomes more intelligent and informative. Especially in China railway 5T system (railway vehicle running safety monitor system), technologies such as the mechanical, acoustic, optical, electronic, infrared monitoring help to monitor and guarantee the train safety during running. There are more than 6,000 stations in 5T system, these stations are mostly located in the wilderness, mountains range, wetlands, coastal and other harsh environment. Consequently, lightning damage and maintenance costs amount to more than 10 million Yuan each year. Since 2003, the lightning protection devices had been installed in 5T system stations including power lightning protection devices and signal lightning protection devices. The implementation of integrated lightning protection measures these status: lightning protection, grounding, and equipotential connection and so on. However there is not any stationed staff in the station, and the station does not have trigger response to any immediate notification after lightning damage occurs. In this case, the lightning protection lacks intelligent protection, which can mitigate the possibility of future lightning damage. In order to make the 5T system lightning protection effectively work on the purpose of centralized management, we introduce the technology of the "Internet of Things". Thousands of data about lightning currents, SPD information, power information, grounding system state information are connected through the wireless network to the information management platform. Through several years' running and testing, 5T system maintenance personnel and the Railway Bureau management personnel can obtain lightning protection informations of 5T system at real time which greatly improves the effectiveness of lightning protection equipment and facilities further minimizing the costs of lightning damage.