What’s the best type of lightning protection for weather nose radomes? Are there any special considerations for design, installation and testing?
In this article we’ll discuss some common concerns we have in protecting weather nose radomes to withstand lightning strikes.
Lightning Protection Systems: What’s Right For Weather Nose Radomes?
Weather nose radomes take a lot of lightning strikes, and they have to be well-designed to divert high-amp current.
The nose radome is on the section of a plane designated lightning zone 1A or 1B.
Regulatory agencies define severe lightning strikes as containing energy of 200,000 amps or more. A 2,000,000 action-integral strike will severely damage a composite radome if not safely diverted.
Yet, if a radome has improperly installed lightning protection–including metal bars or segmented lightning diverters–it will still be at major risk for damage. This plane below has improperly installed diverters.
It’s critical to be prepared for these big strikes, otherwise any aircraft will suffer damage and downtime. Preparing for a big strike means the design phase of lightning diversion is critically important. Proper installation is just as essential.
Weather Nose Radomes Need Robust Lightning Protection
Nose radomes are in lightning zone 1A as defined by the SAE ARP 5414B guide, which can be found here. This means they will take strikes up to 200,000 amps and 2,000,000 action integral with low attachment and hang-on.
200,000 amp strikes can do a lot of damage, and so lightning protection for weather nose radomes needs to be up to this certification.
At Weather Guard, our StrikeTape segmented lightning diverters are ultra-durable, easy to install and provide outstanding protection for any radome.
The design must put the lightning diverter in the proper location to become the path of least resistance for a lightning bolt.
As discussed earlier, it’s important to extend lightning protection as far down the radome as possible, leaving little of the composite nose exposed.
Even with the best protection and materials, design and installation are still critical. Good parts cannot fix or make up for a bad design or poor installation.
This FedEx plane below has StrikeTape installed. It extends far down the nose radome, where it will intercept any lightning strike and safely divert that electrical energy
The thing to remember is that lightning needs a conductive surface to bridge the gap to the skin of the aircraft.
If a segmented lightning diverter or metal bar protection system doesn’t extend far enough down the nose, lightning will go through the composite materials and cause a lot of damage.
The design must put the lightning diverter in the proper location to become the path of least resistance for a lightning bolt.
Learn More in This Short Video on Weather Nose Radomes
Have a weather nose radome you need to protect? Learn what CEO Allen Hall considers important in weather nose radome design.
Need Help With Your Radome Design?
At Weather Guard Lightning Tech, we love helping engineers. There is a LOT to know about lightning protection, and if you’re a radome design engineer it may not be something you’ve studied extensively.
Give us a call today if you need advice on how to complete your project. We have decades of experience in radome design, installation, testing and regulations. The last thing you need is to get to the end of your project and find that your hard work hasn’t passed testing. We can help you avoid this mistake.
If you’re not sure what you need to finish off a high-quality design, we can definitely help.
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