Simulation and Protection of Lightning Electromagnetic Pulse in Non-Metallic Nacelle of Wind Turbine

When the nacelle of a wind turbine is struck by lightning, lightning electromagnetic pulse (LEMP) is generated inside the nacelle and consequently impacts inside electronic devices or even seriously destroys them. In order to study the LEMP inside the nacelle, this paper firstly built a full-scale model of a non-metallic nacelle. The lightning electromagnetic environment in the nacelle was simulated and analyzed by the transmission-line matrix method. Then the protective measures of applying metallic shielding mesh on the nacelle were studied, including the mesh size and material of the shielding mesh on the protective effect. The results show that LEMP in the nacelle can be effectively attenuated by metallic shielding meshes. The shielding effect is highly dependent on the conductivity of the shielding mesh material and the mesh size.