Unit 6 -Earthing

Chapter-3: Earthing and shielding techniques for electrical equipment

High gradient fields
Earth fault detectors
Fast circuit breakers
 Earthing

• The term Earthing means connecting the neutral point of a supply

system or non current carrying metal parts used in electrical
distribution system to the general mass of earth by wire of negligible
resistance in such manner that at all times an immediate discharge of
electrical energy takes place without danger.
 Types of Electrical Earthing
• The electrical equipment mainly consists of two non-current
carrying parts.
• These parts are neutral of the system or frame of the electrical
equipment.
• From the earthing of these two non-current carrying parts of the
electrical system, earthing can be classified into two types.

i. Neutral Earthing
ii. Equipment Earthing
 Neutral Earthing
• In neutral earthing, the neutral of the system is directly connected to
earth by the help of the GI wire.
• The neutral earthing is also called the system earthing.
• Such type of earthing is mostly provided to the system which has
star winding.
• For example, the neutral earthing is provided in the generator,
transformer, motor etc.
There are five types of neutral earthing:
•Solid-earthed neutral
•Unearthed neutral
•Resistance-earthed neutral
•Low-resistance earthing
•High-resistance earthing
•Reactance-earthed neutral

Solid-earthed neutral
In solid or directly earthed neutral, transformer's star point is directly
connected to the ground. In this solution, a low-impedance path is
provided for the ground fault current to close and, as result, their
magnitudes are comparable with three-phase fault currents. Since the
neutral remains at the potential close to the ground, voltages in
unaffected phases remain at levels similar to the pre-fault ones; for that
reason, this system is regularly used in high-voltage transmission
networks, where insulation costs are high
Resistance-earthed neutral
To limit short circuit earth fault an additional neutral earthing resistor (NER) is added
between the neutral of transformer's star point and earth.

Low-resistance earthing
With low resistance fault current limit is relatively high. In India it is restricted for 50
A for open cast mines according to Central Electricity Authority Regulations, CEAR,
2010, rule 100.

High-resistance earthing
High resistance grounding system grounds the neutral through a resistance which
limits the ground fault current to a value equal to or slightly greater than the capacitive
charging current of that system

Unearthed neutral earthing

In unearthed, isolated or floating neutral system, as in the IT system, there is no direct
connection of the star point (or any other point in the network) and the ground. As a
result, ground fault currents have no path to be closed and thus have negligible
magnitudes. However, in practice, the fault current will not be equal to zero:
conductors in the circuit — particularly underground cables
 Purpose of earthing
• To avoid electric shock to human body
• To avoid risk of fire due to earth leakage current through unwanted
path
• To ensure that no current carrying conductor rises potential with
respect to earth than its designed insulation

But this results in heavy fault currents, which may leads to various
problems such as:
• Melting in faulted electric equipment e.g switchgear, transformers,
cables and rotating machines.
• Mechanical stresses in circuits and apparatus carrying fault currents
• Electric shock hazards to personnel caused by stray grounded fault
currents in ground return path.
• Practice to be followed while choosing a suitable system grounding
• One grounding is normally provided at each voltage level.
Between generation and distribution, there are various voltage
levels
• The generators are normally provided with resistance grounding
and synchronous motors are provided with reactance grounding
• Where several generators are connected to a common neutral
bus, the bus is connected to the ground through a single
grounding device. Disconnect switches can be used to ground the
desired generators to the neutral bus.
• When several generators are operating in parallel, only one
generator neutral is ground. This is done to avoid the interference
of zero sequence currents. Normally two grounds are available in
a station but only one is used at a time. The other is used when
the first generator is out of service.
• For low voltage up to 600 volts and high voltages above 33 kV,
solid grounding is used, where as for medium voltages between
3.3 kV and 33 kV, resistance or reactance grounding is used.
 Equipment Earthing
• Such type of earthing is provided to the electrical equipment.
• The non-current carrying part of the equipment like their metallic
frame is connected to the earth by the help of the conducting wire.
• If any fault occurs in the apparatus, the short-circuit current to
pass the earth by the help of wire. Thus, protect the system from
damage.
Basic Objective of Equipment Earthing
• To ensure freedom from dangerous electric shock voltage
exposure to persons in the area.
• To provide current carrying capability, both in magnitude and
duration, adequate to accept the ground fault current permitted
by the over current protection system without creating afire or
explosive hazard to building or contents.
• To contribute to superior performance of the electrical system.
What equipment is to be connected to earth
• The neutral conductor of 3phase 4wire electrical distribution
system and middle conductor of 2phase 3wire and DC supply
system should be earthed at generating station and at the sub
station by two separate and distinct earth connections
• Metal frame of generators, motors and other metallic parts of the
equipment used for regulating or controlling energy and all medium
voltage energy consuming apparatus
• All metal parts of electrical installation such as metal conduits
enclosing VIR or PVC cables, light fittings, iron clad main
switches, iron clad distribution boards etc
• 3pin lighting and power plug socket should be permanently and
efficiently earthed
• Fabricated steel transmission towers , tubular poles, rail poles,
concrete poles used in overhead trx line should be earthed.
• The metal casing of portable apparatus should be earthed
• This covers electrical drill, soldering iron, hair driers, heaters
refrigerators and electrically operated equipment.
• Concentric cables :the external conductor of such cables should be
earthed by two separate and distinct connection with earth.

• On what basis would you select the earthing conductor?

• Electrical potential that it have to carry at time of short circuits
• High conductivity (copper)
• Sufficient diameter to carry fault current safely
• Galvanized iron (GI) so that it does not get rusty in adverse
conditions and it has buried into earth
 Earth resistance depends on
• Condition of soil
• Moisture of soil
• Temperature of soil
• Depth of electrode
• Size and spacing of earth plates
• Metal of earth plate
• Quality of coal dust and charcoal in the earth
electrode pit
 How earth resistance can be reduced
• Using number of earth electrodes inter
connected in parallel
• Using larger size of earth electrode
• Increasing the depth of pit for earthing system
• The area around earthing pipe is increased
and charcoal soaked in salt solution is filled in
pit
 Earth pit should not be located
• Near pavements, roads and rail tracks
• Should not be located near building and
minimum distance from the wall to pit should not
be less than 1.5mt
• Metal fence
• Distance between two earth electrodes where
more than one electrode is required the plates
shall be separated from each other by not less
than 2.5mts and in case of rod or pipe not less
than 2 mts
 Different types of earthing
• Earthing through water mains
• Wire or strip earthing
• Rod earthing
• Pipe earthing
• Plate earthing
 Earthing through water mains
• Normally it is not advisable
• It must ensure that water pipe is of iron and
electrically continuous
• Care must be taken to limit the contact
Resistance to the minimum
 Wire earthing or strip earthing
• Copper wires of 5swg or cross section not less than 25mm
wide and 1.6 mm thick used an earth wire
• If round conductor are used, their cross sectional area should
not be smaller than 3.0mm2
• The wire is buried in horizontal trenches of depth enough to
maintain earthing process
 Rod earthing
• Soild rod of 12.5mm solid rods of copper , 19mm diameter of
GI or hollow GI pipe of diameter 25mm is driven vertically
into earth upto depth of 5 to6 diameters depending on depth of
moisture in earth.
 Pipe earthing

• A pipe of diameter sufficient to carry the fault current

is selected
• The size of pipe which serves as an earth electrode
depends on
• A) Current to be carried
• B) Type of soil
• The GI pipe shall not be less than 38mm diameter and
2 meter long for ordinary soil (2.75mt for dry and
rocky)
• The pipe must be place in permanently wet ground.
The depth depends on condition of soil and
moisture(4.75 mt again depending upon moisture
 Plate earthing
• The earthing is done by embedding GI or copper plate in the
earth sufficiently deep
• The size of the plate used should not be less than
60cm*60cm*6.36mm in GI case and 60cm*60cm*3.18mm in
case of copper
• A pit is dug about 4m deep and the earth electrode is placed
in such away that face is vertical
• The space around the plate is filled with charcoal and salt for
minimum thickness of 15cm. The electrode or plate is
connected to GI pipe of 12.7mm diameter for carrying GI
earth wire for connection to earth electrode.
 High Gradient Fields
• High Gradient fields refers to electrical potential large enough to
cause injury or damage.
• In certain industries, high voltage refers to voltage above a certain
threshold.
• Electricity may cause accidents, if body experience sufficient
potential difference across it, which may be due to direct contact
with electric live conductor or subjected to high electric field
• Reasons for High Gradient Fields
• Insulation Failure
• Line to Ground Fault
• Contact with higher voltage system
• Improper Earthing
• Electric and Magnetic Induction into system near
transmission line
• Lightning
• Insulation Failure:

Insulation is a safety practice effected by interposing a non-

conductive medium, between a person and current carrying parts due
to which man is isolated from electric current.

In other terms insulation prevents the man from being connected with
any conductive elements or limits their conductivity to safe electric
current values

Within the electrical safety framework, dielectric medium is the

insulation which may be characterized by following parameters

i. Dielectric material
ii. Permittivity Value
iii. Dissipation Factor
 Line to Ground Fault

• Common source of a sustained over voltage on an ungrounded

system is line to ground fault,

• Generally, a single line-to-ground fault on a transmission line

occurs when one conductor drops to the ground or comes in
contact with the neutral conductor.

• Such types of failures may occur in power system due to many

reasons like high-speed wind, falling off a tree, lightning, etc.

• In this case the insulation of other phases is subjected to a over

voltages of 73% above normal

• Higher voltage than normal reduces the insulation life

 Contact with higher voltage system

• Contact with a higher voltage system may be caused by a

broken high voltage conductor falling on a lower voltage
conductor where both lines cross or are carried on same poles

• Breakdown between high and low voltage windings of a

distribution transformer which may cause insulation failures at
several points

• An effectively grounded low voltage system, though

experiences high values of fault current for this condition but
still hold the system neutral close to ground potential and thus
overvoltage's on the low voltage system is greatly reduced
 Improper Earthing

• Under fault condition the flow of current to the earth through

grounding conductor will result in voltage gradient on the
surface of the earth in the vicinity of the grounding system.

• Presence of a person at such a position that his body bridges

two points of potential difference may cause accidents due to
electric shock

• Basically, there are ways by which a person bridges two points

of high potential difference

• i. Foot to foot contact or step contact

• ii. Hand to feet contact or touch contact

i. Foot to foot contact or step contact
ii. Hand to feet contact or touch contact
Ground Fault Protection System:
• Line to ground faults are the cause of most electrical accidents and hence ground
faults protection for people is a subject of interest for all electrical utilities.
• A ground fault exists when an unintended path is established between an
ungrounded conductor and ground
• This situation occurs due to worn or defective electrical equipment and misuse of
equipment that is in good working condition.
• Thus it is extremely essential to protect the living things by some protective
devices.
• Protective disconnection is an independent system of protection to the men and
animals from voltage likely to occur across the equipment metal work which may
accidentally become live due to an insulation fault
• The purpose of this system is similar to that of the earthing
• Protective disconnection devices depends for their operation upon automatic
disconnection of a current consumer, whenever its metalwork becomes accidentally
live and the voltage thus developed is hazardous for men.

• The two main protective disconnecting Devices are

• The first generation protective disconnection
• The OSHA Ground fault Circuit Interrupter
i. The first Generation Protective Disconnection Switch
• The figure illustrates each part of the switch separately
• The protective switch or disconnector has a coil, which allows the circuit to be
broken when fed with voltage.
• This switch may be provided with a cut-in coil, allowing the circuit to be
reconnected by depressing the button
• The cut-out coil holds the switch closed through the use of a latch.
• The figure shows the coil without this latch and switchblades are disconnected
being loaded by spring.
• One end of the coil is connected to the current consumer frame and the other to the
remote earth electrode
Working:
Two cases are likely to take place when the current consumer frame becomes
live due to insulation faults

a. Current consumer is not earthed:

• Whenever an insulation fault occurs a phase voltage will appear between the
current consumer frame and the remote earth electrode.
• The cutout coil will become energized passing the current, consequently its core
will be pulled in releasing the latch
• The spring will draw out the switchblades and the circuit will be thus interrupted
• The touch voltage will disappear from the current consumer frame, which will be
safe for contact.

b. Current consumer frame is earthed:

• The earth electrode disconnector will be closed as soon as the insulation fault
occurs in the current consumer frame, a voltage will appear across the current
consumer frame but this voltage will not be equal to the phase voltage
• The voltage thus produced will be determined by the voltage drop across the earth
electrode equal to the current to earth multiplied by the earth electrode resistance
• In this case the switch coil should be operated by a lesser voltage
Features:
• The most essential feature of protective disconnection is the fast
disconnection of the faulty current consumer. The faster the
disconnection, the more reliable is the protection.
• It has been found hard to isolate the current consumer from the
building metalwork, steel foundation beams and other
reinforcements.
• The uses of protective disconnection means in the power
supplies with neutral earth will be limited to avoid some false
operation because of complex earthing
• It can be widely employed in the household appliances, like
washing machines, flat irons, electrical boiling ranges, in
agricultural devices like milking machines as well as in many
other branches of industrial activities
ii. The OSHA Ground Fault Current Interrupter(GFCI)
• GFCI is a first circuit breaker that sense small amount of current leakage to ground
and in a fraction of a second shuts off the electricity and interrupts its faulty flow
ground
• It is placed between the electrical services and tool it serves, the GFCI continually
matches the amount of current going to the tool against the amount of current
returning from the tool along the normal path of the circuit conductors.
• Whenever the amount going differs from the amount returning by more than 5 mA,
the GFCI interrupts the electric power in as little as 1/40 second
• This difference in current is called leakage current to ground and the path it takes to
ground could be through a person
• However the rapid response of the GFCI is fast enough to prevent death or serious
injury
• It is important to know that GFCI does not protect the employee from the line to line
fault
• Its protection is solely against the most common form of human electric shock
hazard, the line to ground fault
• It also provides additional protection against fires, overheating and destruction of
insulation on wiring.
• There are two kinds of GFCI
i. Differential Type:
• The differential type uses the differential transformer
• As long as all the electricity flow through the transformer, GFCI is function
less
• If some of the electricity flows to the ground the sensing winding detects the
difference and causes the differential transformer to operate the GFCI
breaking the circuit
ii. Isolation Type:
• The isolation type uses an isolation transformer providing an inductive coupling
between the load and the line
• A ground fault passes through the sensing circuit which can limit current flow to as
little as 0.2 mA

• Wet connectors and tools sometimes cause tripping of the GFCIs

• This wet conditions can pose an electrical hazard
• It can be reduced by not exposing connectors and tools to excessive moisture and using
waterproof or sealed connectors
• Tools and connectors can also be cleaned, replaced or repaired if necessary to reduce
tripping caused by the cumulative leakage of several tools or leakage from extremely
long circuits
• GFCIs can be used successfully on construction site if the cord connectors and tools are
properly maintained.