Our Mission is to provide the best scientifically based lightning protection at the highest level of customer service.
About Us
Lightning Electrotechnologies Inc. was established on September 19th 2008 with the intention of acting as the primary operations-company in the campaign to commercialise the revolutionary lightning protection technologies developed by Expodev Inc.
Expodev Inc is an Electrical Engineering Consultation firm, which was founded in 1984 by Dr. Farouk A.M Rizk. It has primarily been a project organisation that assembles teams of specialists to tackle engineering and management challenges, as well as, forensic analysis of anomalous flashovers at substations, power lines and during live line work, including lightning incidents.
In 2005, as a natural extension of Dr. Rizk’s life long interests and scientific work and after concluding that a large discrepancy existed between scientific understanding of lightning and the commercial systems available for lightning protection, Expodev Inc. engage in independent research activities that escalated into a product development campaign.
Dr. Farouk Rizk
Short Bio
Farouk A.M. Rizk holds a Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, and a Doctor of Technology degree from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Dr Rizk joined the Hydro-Quebec Research Institute (IREQ) as a senior research engineer in 1972, subsequently passing to vice-president, Research and Testing Laboratories in 1986. He has been invited professor at the INRS-Energie and adjunct professor at McGill University.
Dr Rizk is presently president of Expodev Inc., a consulting engineering firm, and Lightning Electrotechnologies Inc., a lightning protection supplier; both are in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
His research work covers a wide range of topics in high voltage and high power engineering: arc dynamics in high voltage circuit breakers, polluted high voltage insulators, transmission line single pole switching, electromagnetic shielding, compressed gas and oil breakdown, long air gaps, lightning attachment and lightning protection.
Dr Rizk made major contributions to standardization work, particularly during his tenure as international chairman of IEC Technical Committee 28: Insulation Co-ordination, 1984-1996.
Dr Rizk was nominated IEEE Fellow in 1982 “for contributions to the science of high voltage technology and for technical leadership in the advancement of the electric power industry”.
He has been chairman of the 10th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering (ISH) in 1997 and chairman of ISH steering committee.
Dr Rizk received prize paper awards from the IEEE Transmission and Distribution Committee in 1989, 1991 and 1995 and from the Power Engineering Society of IEEE in 1996. He was awarded the IEEE Herman Halperin Electric Transmission and Distribution Award in 1996.
He is a Distinguished Member of the International Council on Large High Voltage Electrical Systems (CIGRE) and a recipient of the CIGRE Technical Committee Award, 1997, for outstanding contributions to Insulation Co-ordination.
Beside his scientific publications Dr Rizk holds five US patents related to transmission line insulation and lightning protection.
He is co-author of three CIGRE monographs and author, with Dr Giao N. Trinh, of “High Voltage Engineering”, a book published by CRC Press in 2014.
He chaired the lightning attachment session at the ICLP 2016, in Estoril Portugal.
Dr Rizk has provided worldwide consultation work on lightning protection, HVAC and HVDC power transmission for utilities, consultants and manufacturers.
Laboratory Validation of Streamer Inhibiting Electrode, HVDC Fields
Introducing the world’s best lightning rod, the scientifically based Field Sensitive Air Terminal or FSAT
Lightning Protection for Fibreglass Tanks
A demonstration of the mechanism which is a principal cause of lightning protection system failures
Lightning Protection for Fiberglass Tanks (Saltwater Disposal Sites)
Serious Technical Problems with Lightning Protection Standard, NFPA 780, Part 1, Nonconducting Tanks
Analysis of Lake Charles Lightning Related Tank Fire Video June, 2023
The Embedded Ground Conductor
At Lightning Electrotechnologies, we provide a series of modern tools and strategies to minimize lightning damage:
- F-SAT, Field Sensitive Air Terminal. A high efficiency lightning rod can be used as part of conventional NFPA compliant systems.
- Electromagnetic (EM) Shield for Fiberglass Tanks. The only viable solution for lightning induced fires in fiberglass tanks used in the oil industry.
- Toroidal Streamer Inhibitors. A revolutionary, silent, streamer free electrode that produces corona space charges in the glow mode (no visible/audible discharges, no radio interference). An air terminal that inhibits the formation upward leaders in its vicinity and thus reduces the risk of a direct lightning strike to a designated area. Streamer Inhibitors come in a variety of sizes for different applications.
- Streamer Inhibiting Conductors. An overhead ground wire that produces corona or space charges in the glow mode over a very broad range of voltages or space potentials. A conductor that inhibits the formation of leaders in its vicinity and thus reduces the risk of a lightning strike to a designated area.
- Streamer Inhibiting Down-Conductors. A down conductor to be used in applications such as the down-conductor in a wind turbine blade. A conductor that inhibits the formation of streamers/leaders from inside that blade and thus enhances the reliability of the receptors.
Partial International Client List
Partial client List of Lightning Electrotechnologies Inc. and its founder Dr. Rizk