Thormählen can also do this privately, but
most customers are from industry
mandatory in potentially explosive systems, but nobody has
used it. It’s critical in industrial plants.”
for the A7 motorway near Hamburg,” Thormählen says of his What all lightning protection systems have in common is
latest projects. The graduate e-technician is mainly responsi- that most of the time, they’re doing nothing. And when they
ble for strategy and marketing in the Großenmeer handicraft become active, nobody notices. A horror for any distributor.
business. The only people who know how a lightning protection system
Thormählen is a model company when it comes to digitali-
zation in the craft trades. “We are always interested in improv-
works are the people who don’t have one. In other words, they
find out when it’s too late.
ing our procedures, streamlining processes, and avoiding the Nevertheless, the order situation is still looking good: “We
use of paper. We want to take advantage of today’s possibilities have more than enough to do. The more plants are networked
and improve our service by making our products more intelli- and IoT enters the world of production and communication,
gent.” In addition to large-scale projects, the North Germans the more sensitive these fragile plants will react to the raw
also shine with innovations such as the under-roof lightning forces of nature,” explains Jens Barghorn, second Managing
protection for thatched roofs (“We were the first to develop Director and, as a trained master electrician, a man of practice.
this”) and details such as using a special torque wrench to
generate the tightening torque based on the material. “It’s
The intelligent disconnect point
Lightning units need maintenance. This is because since they
are exposed to the weather, their protective function can be
RFID
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is used for contact-free
identification, data exchange, and localization of transponders/
tags without visual contact. With the aid of an RFID handheld
device, which acts as a transmitter and receiver, data is trans-
mitted to and received from a transponder/tag by electromag-
netic waves (UHF) or a magnetic field (HF). Thormählen uses a
BLUEMARK ID COLOR printer from Phoenix Contact, with which
the marking material can be designed individually and in color.
impaired by structural changes or they can actually become
struck by lightning. In order for the technician on-site to
quickly find out what the status of the system is, they must
refer to the documentation available at the time. Thormählen
uses special RFID identifiers from Phoenix Contact at the
disconnect points for the lightning protection system, i.e.
where the status is checked by taking measurements. They are
housed in a weather-resistant badge, which Thormählen him-
self enriches with information via NFC interface and with a
special industrial printer from Phoenix Contact.
42
UPDATE 4/20
The Phoenix Contact innovation magazine