The Lightning Rod as a Danger

Jan Meppelink received his Dipl.-Ing. Degree and Dr.-Ing. in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Berlin. From 1984 to 1988, he was Leader of Basic Development High Voltage Engineering, ABB High Voltage Technologies, Zürich, Switzerland. He was Leader of the study group "Principle Development" in High Voltage Engineering and Gas-Insulated Switchgear (GIS), especially for the performance verification testing of 800 kV Gas-Insulated Switchgear and commissioning of the 550 kV GIS Itaipu/Brazil, the development of the EMI proof design of secondary equipment for high voltage substations, research on propagation and measurement of very fast transients in GIS and development of ultra-fast voltage dividers for very fast transient measurements. From 1988 to 1992, he was Manager Projects International Gas-Insulated Switchgear, ABB High Voltage Technologies, Zürich, Switzerland. He was Leader of the Department for order handling and project management and also Leader of theEngineering Department. Since 1992, he is Professor for High Voltage Engineering at the University of applied Sciences, Soest, Germany. Since 2008, he is Course Director of the Study Course "Engineering and Project Management". His field of research includes high voltage engineering, lightning and over voltage protection and along with the study course engineering and project management, lean management, process management, project management and sales engineering. Since 2015, he is Professor Emeritus. He is Head of the German working group AK 251-04 dealing with standardisation of lightning protection system components and Member of IEC TC81, MT8, MT14, MT21 and Cenelec TC81X WG2.

In 2021, he received the Benjamin Franklin medal from the German VDE/ABB. In 2022, he received the IEC 1906 award from IEC.

Jan Meppelink 獲得了柏林工業大學的電機工程學士及博士學位。1984年至1988年，他擔任瑞士蘇黎世 ABB 高壓技術公司的高壓工程基礎開發部門負責人。他是高壓工程和氣體絕緣開關設備（GIS）「原理開發」研究小組的負責人，特別負責 800 kV 氣體絕緣開關設備的性能驗證測試以及 550 kV GIS Itaipu/Brazil 的啟用，還有高壓變電站次級設備的 EMI 防護設計開發、GIS 中非常快速瞬變的傳播與測量研究，以及超快速電壓分壓器的開發以進行非常快速瞬變測量。1988年至1992年，他擔任瑞士蘇黎世 ABB 高壓技術公司的國際氣體絕緣開關設備項目經理，負責訂單處理和項目管理部門，並且也是工程部門的負責人。自1992年以來，他在德國索斯特應用科技大學擔任高壓工程教授。自2008年以來，他擔任「工程與項目管理」學程的課程主任。他的研究領域包括高壓工程、雷電及過電壓保護，並且與工程與項目管理學程相關的精益管理、流程管理、項目管理和銷售工程。自2015年以來，他是名譽教授。他是德國工作組 AK 251-04 的負責人，該工作組專注於雷電保護系統組件的標準化，並且是 IEC TC81、MT8、MT14、MT21 和 Cenelec TC81X WG2 的成員。

在2021年，他獲得了德國 VDE/ABB 的本傑明·富蘭克林獎章。在2022年，他獲得了 IEC 的 1906 獎。