FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a lightning protection device/system for electronic
weighing systems. More particularly, the present invention is directed to providing a
lightning protection device for electronic weighing systems for in-motion weighing of
loaded wagons by isolating the load sensors embedded in rail track from the instruments
involving 12-pin male-female sockets. When switched on, the device isolates the entire
ground sensors from electronic measuring instruments and this works successfully as a
protection against lightning. Advantageously, the lightning protection device is a low cost
device easily fabricated from available sockets/accessories. The device of the invention is
capable of ensuring substantial savings by way of avoiding damage of equipments and
spares due to lightning and also decreasing down time of weighing systems. The device
is also suitable for other electrical and electronic systems installed in the isolated
locations and dry terrains where adequate earth/grounding is difficult to provide.
BACKGROUND ART
It is often experienced in steel plants or mining industry that for weighment of loaded
wagons is essentially required for quantification of incoming materials or physical
verification of production or dispatch. In the Bokaro Steel Plant of the applicants, there
are four nos. of in-motion electronic weigh bridges (Rail type) of 100 Ton capacity. These
are used for weighing incoming raw materials and other related applications. As per
design convention of such open weather electronic weighing systems, load sensors and
wheel sensors are mounted/embedded in the railway tracks, whereas the electronic
measuring instruments are installed inside the operator cabin.
It is further experienced in the art that due to the geographical location and
environmental condition in the site of plants located in the state of Jharkhand ,it is
"heavy lightning prone" region where the damage due to lightning is very high. Every
year, at the outset of rainy season as well as during the entire season, several nos. of
serious lightning cases take place that result in the damage of track mounted sensors
and electronic measuring instruments, either partially or even completely. The incidents
of lightning on an average amounts to a damage of the order of not less than Rs.20 Lakh
a year directly for the replacement of sensors and electronic components. Indirect losses

on account of suspended operations due to no-weighment of materials caused serious
bottleneck and loss of production.
The conventional means of protections against lightning such as strengthening electrical
earthing and installing lightning arrestors etc., were found to be of little use as the region
is so dry and stony that it was difficult to achieve proper earthing/grounding at the site.
As an additional measure of protection, the weighing system was switched off while
lightning, but this was also not sufficient to protect the weighing system and hence the
damage due to lightning continued to take place.
There has been therefore a strong need in the related field to developing a device which
would on one hand be simple, user friendly, easy to install and low cost and on the other
hand capable of saving the costly electronic weighing equipments/accessories reliably
minimizing eventual losses due to lightning.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The basic object of the present invention is thus directed to developing a low cost
lightning protection device for electronic weighing system adapted to avoid damage
during lightning in reliable manner.
Another object of the present invention is directed to developing a lightning protection
device for electronic weighing system for in-motion carriage on rail track such that the
embedded sensors in rail track and weighing electronic measuring instruments installed
in operators cabin are isolated by means of a male-female socket in a reliable manner to
avoid lightning damage.
A further object of the present invention is directed to developing a lightning protection
device for electronic weighing system wherein the device can be easily fabricated and
made from easily available socket.
A still further object of the present invention is directed to developing a lightning
protection device for electronic weighing system wherein the device saves a substantial

amount of money by way of avoiding damage of spares and equipments and reducing
indirect losses due to non weighment.
A still further object of the present invention is directed to developing a lightning
protection device for electronic weighing system wherein the device can save equipments
from lightning reliably even when proper earth/grounding is not possible to achieve due
to dry and stony texture of terrain in a region.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The basic aspect of the present invention is thus directed to a lightning protection device
adapted to safe guarding of on-site electronic weighing system comprising,
a pull box adapted to operatively connect to load cells/sensors embedded under railway
track;
a male-female socket connector means operatively connecting the pull box to a load
measuring unit through six core shielded cables;
and adapted such that on switching on the said load cells/ground sensors are isolated
from the said load measuring unit for protection during lightning.
A further aspect of the present invention is directed to a lightning protection device,
wherein said 2 six core cables carry the load measuring signals and wagon sensors
signals from sensors to measuring instruments and also the 12 V Load Cell power supply
through it when the electronic weighing system is in operation, without disturbing the
total gain of the measuring instruments.
A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a lightning protection device,
wherein switching on action of the device disengages the male and the female sockets
and thus electrically isolating the ground sensors from electronic measuring instruments
for desired lightning protection.

A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a lightning protection device,
wherein said male socket and the female socket are both 12-pin sockets connected
through six core cable.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention is directed to a lightning
protection device, wherein the technical requirements of the said 12-pin male-female
sockets comprising
Current carrying capacity per pin :2 Amp. or above
Type :Spring loaded connector type
Dia of the socket :6 cm.(approx.)
Pin Material :Copper
A still further aspect of the present invention is directed to a lightning protection device,
wherein said device does not include any active electrical element and hence does not
alter the basic characteristics of the measurement instrument.
The present invention and its object and advantages are described in greater details with
reference to following accompanying illustrative drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
Figure 1: is the schematic block diagram of the arrangement of duly assembled hardware
components of the lightning protection device for electronic weighing systems according
to the present invention.
DETAILED DECRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE
ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The present invention is directed to providing a lightning protection system for the
electronic weighing equipments for online weighing of loaded wagons on rail track. The
system for protection involves connecting the load sensors embedded under the rail track
along with track switches and power supply to these located at a distant location is

connected to the electronic measuring instruments comprising weight indicator and
computer, installed in the operators cabin by means of six core shielded cable of about
40meters length.
Reference is now invited to the accompanying Figure 1 that schematically illustrate a
block diagram of an embodiment of the male-female isolating socket based protection
device for electronic weighing system according to the present invention. The hardware
elements of protection system include: (a) 02 nos. of Six Core Shielded Cable- 40 meters
each, (b) Male Socket (12 Pin)- 1 no. (c ) Female Sockets (12 Pin) - 1 no. and (d) Pull
box-lno. The cable runs through an intermediate connector comprising male-female
socket detachably secure to connect the sensing end and measuring end devices. The
intermediate isolating connector comprising a 12-pin male socket and a 12-pin female
socket engaged or disengaged with a pull box. When switched on, the device isolates the
entire ground sensors from electronic measuring instruments and this works successfully
as a protection against lightning. Switching on is the action by which M(male socket) is
disengaged from F(female socket) manually and hence ground sensors get electrically
isolated from electronic measuring instrument comprising electronic weighing indicator
and computer. The pull box is used to serve the purpose of keeping the extra length of
the six core cables inside it, so that the extra cable does not hang here and there and
can be used for extension of the system as and when required.
The basic technical requirements of the male-female sockets used in the device of the
invention are the following:
Current carrying capacity per pin :2 Amp. or above
Type :Spring loaded connector type
Dia of the socket :6 cm.(approx.)
Pin Material : Copper
When the protection device is in the same circuit and the electronic weighing is in
operation, it simply allows the measuring signals and 12 V power supply to pass through
it without disturbing the total gain of the measuring instrument. Since the protection
device does not include any active electrical element, it does not alter the basic
characteristics of the measurement instrument. A total no. of 12 wires are required to
address the entire field installations. These are as given below:


The 12 Pin Male-Female Pins remain connected during normal operation and these are
disconnected when the protection form the lightning is needed. When the sockets are
isolated, the protection is achieved as the ground sensors are physically and electrically
isolated from the measuring instruments.
Such a system for lightning protection can be easily fabricated from commonly available
sockets and accessories. The performance and reliability of the protection device has
been tested successfully to achieve satisfactory results at plant site. The device reliably
averted incidents of lightning and consequent damage of electronic instruments and the
load cells/sensors embedded under rail track on all occasions of repeated trials. Thus
substantial cost saving is achieved by way of avoiding damage of equipments and spares
directly and also indirect saving by eliminating downtime due to no weighment.

It is thus possible by way of the present invention to providing a lightning protection
system for electronic weighing system for in-motion weighing of wagons on railway track
based such that the measuring instruments and indicators as well as the computer
devices are protected from damage due to lightning by electrically isolating the
measuring equipments from the ground sensors embedded under railway track. The
protection device/system thus providing a low cost solution to lightning problems for
open weather on-site application of such sensitive weighing systems and enable
substantial saving by avoiding damages of equipments and spares by lightning and also
eliminating downtime and loss of production due to failure of weighing system. The
lightning protection device according to the invention is thus having useful wide
application in transport, steel, mining and other industry as well as remote site
application for on-site weighing systems where arranging proper lightning arrester or
proper earth is difficult to achieve.

We Claim:
1. A lightning protection device adapted to safe guarding of on-site electronic weighing
system comprising,
a pull box adapted to operatively connect to load cells/sensors embedded under railway
track;
a male-female socket connector means operatively connecting the pull box to a load
measuring unit through six core shielded cables;
and adapted such that on switching on the said load cells/ground sensors are isolated
from the said load measuring unit for protection during lightning.
2. A lightning protection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said 2 six core cables carry
the load measuring signals and wagon sensors signals from sensors to measuring
instruments and also the 12 V Load Cell power supply through it when the electronic
weighing system is in operation, without disturbing the total gain of the measuring
instruments.
3. A lightning protection device as claimed in anyone of claims 1 or 2, wherein switching
on action of the device disengages the male and the female sockets and thus electrically
isolating the ground sensors from electronic measuring instruments for desired lightning
protection.
4. A lightning protection device as claimed in claims 1 to 3, wherein said male socket and
the female socket are both 12-pin sockets connected through 2 six core shielded cables.
5. A lightning protection device as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 4, wherein the
technical requirements of the said 12-pin male-female sockets comprising
Current carrying capacity per pin :2 Amp. or above
Type :Spring loaded connector type
Dia of the socket :6 cm.(approx.)
Pin Material :Copper

6. A lightning protection device as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 5, wherein said
device does not include any active electrical element and hence does not alter the basic
characteristics of the measurement instrument.
7. A lightning protection device adapted to safe guarding of on-site electronic weighing
system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

The present invention is directed to providing a lightning protection device for electronic
weighing systems for in-motion weighing of loaded wagons by isolating the on-site load
sensors embedded in rail track from the instruments located at operator's cabin,
involving spring loaded connector type 12-pin male-female sockets. When switched on,
the device isolates the entire ground sensors from electronic measuring instruments and
this works successfully as a protection against lightning. Advantageously, the lightning
protection device is a low cost device easily fabricated from available
sockets/accessories. The device of the invention is capable of ensuring substantial
savings by way of avoiding damage of equipments and spares due to lightning and also
decreasing down time of weighing systems. The device is also suitable for other electrical
and electronic systems installed in the isolated locations and dry terrains where adequate
earth/grounding is difficult to provide.