TOKYO & SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To accelerate the global development of our lightning disaster-prevention business, Hitachi Plant Technologies, Ltd. (“Hitachi Plant Technologies”) [Head office: Toshima-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Toshiaki Higashihara] has reached a basic agreement to acquire at least 51% of the stocks of Lightning Eliminators & Consultants (Asia) Pte Ltd. (“LEC-Asia”) [Head office: Republic of Singapore; CEO: Andrew Mui Chee Yeong] by the end of 2011.
LEC-Asia holds intellectual property rights and exclusive sales rights in 14 Southeast Asian countries and territories*1 to the "Dissipation Array System (DAS *2)" developed by Lightning Eliminators & Consultants, Inc. (“LEC”) [Head office: Boulder, Colorado, USA; President & CEO:Avram Saunders], while Hitachi Plant Technologies holds exclusive sales rights for DAS in Japan, India and Saudi Arabia. This acquisition of LEC-Asia stocks will enable us to make full use of the resources of both companies in order to aggressively expand our sales activities and increase orders in Southeast Asia, where the frequency of lightning strikes is increasing and economic development is rapidly expanding. In addition to DAS, we will also propose a comprehensive lightning disaster-prevention system, which will include lightning disaster consulting services, protection of machinery from lightning conducted through power sources and communication lines, and the like.
*1 People's Republic of China, Republic of Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Kingdom of Thailand, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of the Philippines, Hong Kong (a special administrative area of the People's Republic of China), Macao (a special administrative area of the People's Republic of China), Union of Myanmar, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Kingdom of Cambodia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Papua New Guinea.
*2 DAS (Dissipation Array System) is a registered trademark of LEC.
Overview of the Dissipation Array System (DAS)
A lightning strike is a phenomenon that occurs when electricity that has accumulated in a lightning cloud is discharged to the surface of the earth. Lightning rods, which are generally used as lightning-protection equipment, are designed to attract lightning and send large currents flowing through grounding lines and the reinforcing bars of buildings. In recent years, this has resulted in increased damage to electronic equipment, computers, networks, etc., which play a very important role in advanced information-technology society.
DAS, lightning-protection equipment that prevents lightning termination has already been introduced at more than 200 sites in Japan by Hitachi Plant Technologies. To date, there have been no reports of damage from lightning strikes.
DAS comprises an ionizer (or combinations of umbrella-shaped ionizers, ball ionizers, and dissipation wires depending on the size and shape of the building), a grounding system that directs electrical charges to the earth's surface, and grounding lines that connect the ionizers and the grounding system. As lightning clouds approach, the DAS reacts to the storm generated electric field and through the process of point discharge ionizes the air above the protected area. The ionized air forms a shielding effect to the protected facility, providing an effective capability of suppressing or delaying counter leader generation, thus preventing a complete lightning attachment or termination. The DAS is a passive system as it is energized by the storm itself, therefore not requiring any external electrical power source.
DAS can be used not only for office buildings and factories, but also in a wide variety of areas, including electrical, water and gas lifelines as well as transportation, financial and medical facilities.
Overview of LEC-Asia
| Company Name | Lightning Eliminators & Consultants (Asia) Pte Ltd. | |
| Established | 2002 | |
| Location | Singapore | |
| Representative | CEO: Andrew Mui Chee Yeong | |
| Capital |
S$1,100,032 (approximately 72,000,000 yen)*3 |
|
| Shareholders | Andrew Mui Chee Yeong and others (66%) | |
| Business Areas | DAS equipment supply, system design, lightning disaster-prevention consulting | |
| Employees | 16 (as of March 31, 2011) | |
| Sales |
Approximately S$4,300,000 (approximately 282,000,000 yen)*3 (FY 2010) |
*3 Calculated at the rate of 1S$=65.62 yen
Dissipation Array System (DAS) product information
http://www.hitachi-pt.com/products/si/paravane/index.html