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Lightning protection
Inevitably, extra-tall buildings are occasionally struck by lightning. To protect life and property,
it is important to provide a well-designed lightning protection system that complies with the local
standards.
Once again, the electrical engineer must cooperate closely with the architect and structural
engineer. The lightning protection system will form a Faraday cage around the building. The
architect and engineer must work together to ensure that the copper grid placed at roof level is
adequately secured. The electrical engineer must work with the structural engineer to locate the
down conductors that direct the lightning energy to the earth. Copper conductors within the
structure can be used; however this added cost is unnecessary since the rebar that exists within
the building columns already is also a good conductor and is commonly used for this purpose.
Extra-low-voltage systems
The electrical engineer is responsible for the design of extra-low-voltage (ELV) systems. The
ELV systems may include the fire detection and alarm system, voice evacuation system, voice
and data communication systems, public address systems, access controls systems, intrusion
detection systems, CCTV systems, audio-visual systems, cell phone and wireless distribution
systems and other such auxiliary systems.
Increasingly, because ELV systems are converging and systems communication takes place at a
high level, the electrical engineer must ensure that the various ELV systems are coordinated and
are able communicate flawlessly with each other, as required. The electrical engineer must have
a clear understanding of how each system operates and how they are to interact and support each
other.
Today's ELV systems are continuously evolving and being upgraded rapidly, so that the system
that the electrical engineer selects during the design of the building may be outdated before
installation. The electrical engineer's design must be flexible enough to limit changes to the
physical infrastructure when the ELV systems are updated.