Minimisation methods for lightning stroke current digital acquisition

Statistical data on lightning stroke currents represent a basis for the risk or failure analysis of different stricken objects and insulation coordination of electric power systems. Collecting these data is a time consuming process consisting of measurements spanning at least eleven years, i.e. one solar cycle, due to cyclic changes taking place in the atmosphere. Minimisation methods of lightning current digital acquisition enabling construction of an autonomous digital transient recorder for this application are presented. In this way, long-term data collection in unmanned automated registration stations is made possible. These methods are based on maximum utilisation of lightning current properties obtained from different previous measurements. Functional test results of the solutions applied in the developed prototype transient recorder are also presented