Will an EMP event destroy the stand

[waross]

Will an EMP event destroy the standby generators even if they are not running at the time of the EMP?
Closer to home, will my old standby generator with a mechanical governor survive an EMP or is there a possibility that the EMP may take out the rectifier diodes in the battery charging alternator and let the battery discharge through the alternator?
Can standby generators be protected from EMP attacks by leaving the battery disconnect switch open when the set is not in use, or will an EMP take out all standby sets, even those that are stopped?


Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[davefitz]

not sure, but large station transformers can be protected by adding a capacitor in series with the ground. In one nordic country ( finland or norway) all large transformers are protected in this manner, mainly to address a CME.

"...when logic, and proportion, have fallen, sloppy dead..." Grace Slick

 

[EdStainless]

With EMP it comes down to induced currents.
Small trace stuff, ICs will go first, then printed boards, but it would take a huge EMP to take out standard electrical equipment. But in many cases with modern stuff destroying a small voltage regulator chip would disable an entire piece of equipment.


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[IRstuff]

The "standard" EMP generates a peak field of around 90 kV/m.


Shielding is part of the hardening process.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[MikeHalloran]

So, store all your spare circuit boards in (steel!) ammo boxes.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Hoxton]

An "old fashioned" generating set, with mechanical governor might survive, but would anything else electronic?

I saw an EMP protected installation once.

All room and control panel and switchgear doors were sealed with metal braid - with a rubber core.

Instrumentation etc had doors sealed similarly, so the entire plant could be sealed off in case of a threat.

One problem was to make sure that all access hatches were sealed, as any gap could act as a slot antenna, radiating energy into the interior of the panel.

So keep your mobile phone and radio wrapped in kitchen foil, then inside a metal biscuit tin.

They may survive an EMP, but will any transmitters survive?

To illustrate the problem, Google 'Starfish Prime', in 1962, this high level nuclear test blew streetlights in Hawaii 900 miles away!

 

[bacon4life]

davefitz- A GMD caused by a CMU and an EMP are totally different, even if they do share one letter in common. GMDs have a field strength on the order of 0.0008V/m and may last several hours. EMPs have a field strength on the order of 90,000 V/m and last a fraction of second. The capacitor in the transformer neutral is for GMD protection and has nothing to do with EMP.