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Floating Neutral Impact in Power Distribution PDF
Floating Neutral Impact in Power Distribution PDF
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Published on Aug 27, 2012 12:11 am by jiguparmar | Subscribe to Monthly Download Updates | Install EE Toolbar
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Introduction
If the Neutral Conductor is opened, broke or lost at either of its source side (Distribution Transformer,
Generator or at Load side Distribution Panel of Consumer), the distribution systems neutral conductor will
float or lose its reference ground Point. The floating neutral condition can cause voltages to float to a
maximum of its Phase volts RMS relative to ground, subjecting to its unbalancing load Condition.
Floating Neutral conditions in the power network have different impact depending on the type of Supply, type
of installation and Load balancing in the Distribution.
Broken Neutral or Loose Neutral would damage to the connected load or create hazardous Touch
Voltage at equipment body.
Here We are trying to understand the Floating Neutral Condition in T-T distribution System.
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initially grounded (At Distribution Transformer). This can set up the ground as a path for current to travel
back to the service. Any break in the ground path would then expose a voltage potential. Grounding the
neutral in a 3 phase system helps stabilize phase voltages. A non-grounded neutral is sometimes referred to
as a floating neutral and has a few limited applications.
Broken neutrals can be difficult to detect and in some instances may not be easily identified. Sometimes
broken neutrals can be indicated by flickering lights or tingling taps.
If you have flickering lights or tingly taps in your home, you may be at risk of serious injury or even death.
Low Reading
If Neutral to ground voltage is low at the receptacle than system is healthy, If It is high, then you still have to
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determine if the problem is mainly at the branch circuit level, or mainly at the panel level.
Neutral to ground voltage exists because of the IR drop of the current traveling through the neutral back to
the Neutral to ground bond. If the system is correctly wired, there should be no Neutral to Ground bond
except at the source transformer (at what the NEC calls the source of the Separately Derived System, or
SDS, which is usually a transformer).
Under this situation, the ground conductor should have virtually no current and therefore no IR drop on it. In
effect, the ground wire is available as a long test lead back to the Neutral to ground bond.
High Reading:
A high reading could indicate a shared branch neutral, i.e., a neutral shared between more than one
branch circuits. This shared neutral simply increases the opportunities for overloading as well as for one
circuit to affect another.
Zero Reading:
A certain amount of Neutral to ground voltage is normal in a loaded circuit. If the reading is stable at close to
0V. There is a suspect an illegal Neutral to ground bond in the receptacle (often due to lose strands of the
neutral touching some ground point) or at the subpanel.
Any Neutral to ground bonds other than those at the transformer source (and/or main panel) should be
removed to prevent return currents flowing through the ground conductors.
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The impact of broken overhead neutral conductor at LV overhead distribution will be similar to the broken at
transformer. Supply voltage floating up to Line voltage instead of phase voltage. This type of fault condition
may damage customer equipment connected to the supply.
6) Shared neutrals
Some buildings are wired so that two or three phases share a single neutral. The original idea was to
duplicate on the branch circuit level the four wire (three phases and a neutral) wiring of panel boards.
Theoretically, only the unbalanced current will return on the neutral. This allows one neutral to do the work
for three phases. This wiring shortcut quickly became a dead-end with the growth of single-phase non-linear
loads. The problem is that zero sequence current
From nonlinear loads, primarily third harmonic, will add up arithmetically and return on the neutral. In addition
to being a potential safety problem because of overheating of an undersized neutral, the extra neutral current
creates a higher Neutral to ground voltage.
This Neutral to ground voltage subtracts from the Line to Neutral voltage available to the load. If youre
starting to feel that shared neutrals are one of the worst ideas that ever got translated to copper.
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Conclusion
A Floating Neutral (Disconnected Neutral) fault condition is VERY UNSAFE because If appliance is not
working and someone who does not know about the Neutral Floating could easily touch the Neutral wire to
find out why appliances does not work when they are plugged into a circuit and get a bad shock. Single
phase Appliances are design to work its normal Phase Voltage when they get Line Voltage Appliances may
Damage.
Disconnected Neutral fault is a very unsafe condition and should be corrected at the earliest possible by
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Jump to original technical article at EEP - Floating Neutral Impacts in Power Distribution
Category & Tags: Energy and Power, distribution, floating neutral, ground, neutral, phase, power, three-
phase, voltage
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