Chapter 6 Grounding and Bonding (Latest)

GROUNDING
BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

Importance of Grounding
“It is commonly reported at power quality

conferences and in journals that 80% of power
quality problems reported by customers are
related to wiring and grounding problems
within a facility.”
- Electrical Power System Quality, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill

“Almost 75% of the PQ problems inside the

facility are relate to grounding, which makes it
the single most important factor from a facility
standpoint in having reliable equipment
operation.”
- Warren Lewis, ECM Magazine

• Evaluating the wiring and grounding practices is

necessary when evaluating power quality problems
in general.
• Many power quality problems are solved by simply

tightening a loose connection or replacing a
corroded conductor.
• The IEEE Standard 1100-1999 and few other

resources provide guidelines and recommended
practices for wiring and grounding.
RESOURCES

Grounding vs Bonding
Popular terms
Grounding – A connection by which an
electrical circuit or equipment is connected to
the earth or to some conducting body of
relatively large that serves in place of the
earth.
Bonding - A permanent joint of metallic parts
to form a conductive path for electricity to
flow
Bonding
Grounding

Grounding Objective
• According to NEC , ground electrode must be driven into the earth to a

minimum depth of 8 feet.
Ground
Ground Conductor
Electrode
Earth

Grounding Objective
Objectives
1) For personnel safety and effective
operation of protective device
2) Power quality enhancement or
noise control

Grounding Objective
2. PQ Enhancement or Noise Control

• Grounding for noise control is to create an
equipotential ground system.
• Potential differences between different
ground locations can stress insulation,
create circulating ground currents or
ground loops, and interfere with sensitive
equipment that may be grounded in
multiple locations.
• The National Electrical Code® (NEC®) does
not allow neutral-to-ground connections
that create ground loops because it can
cause electrical shock and power quality
problems.
• A ground loop is an electrical circuit that
has more than one grounding point
connected to earth ground, with a voltage
potential difference between the grounding
points high enough to produce a circulating
current in the grounding system.
Ground Loops
If several points are used for ground connections,

"ground loops“ will occur and can cause errors in
voltage readings.

Ground Loops
Occur when two or more pieces of equipment share

a common circuit like a communication circuit, but
have separate grounding systems.

Ground Loops
To avoid this problem, only one ground should be

used for grounding systems in a building. More
than one grounding electrode can be used, but they
must be tied together.

Ground Loops
• Usually in building, grounding grids are used

as signal references to ground and accessed
through removable panels in the floor.
• Place a grid of conductors below the raised
floor in the office.

Ground Loops
Grounding grid in a computer room
Pg 167, fig 5.28

Safety and Effective Device
Protection
1. Safety and Effective Device Protection
• Minimum requirements are described in NEC 250
• Personnel safety – grounding to prevent voltage
differences between electrical enclosures and
surrounding conductive surfaces.
• Effective device protection – grounding to provide
low impedance path for the flow of fault current
so that adequate enough to quickly blow a fuse or
trip a circuit breaker.

Personnel Safety
• The goal is to prevent the possibility of high

touch voltages when there is a fault in a piece
of equipment.
• The touch voltage is the voltage between any
two conducting surfaces that can be
simultaneously touched by an individual. The
earth may be one of these surfaces.

Personnel Safety
A person will get an electrical shock if a part of the

body completes an electrical circuit by:
1. Touching a live wire and an electrical ground
2. Touching a live wire and another wire at a
different voltage

Personnel Safety
• Severity of the shock depends

on:
– Path of current through the body
– Amount of current flowing
through the body (amps)
– Duration of the shocking current
through the body

Personnel Safety
Reactions to Electrical Shock

Personnel Safety

Normal Current
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Path of Current Flow - Normal Operation

Normal Current
L
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From transformer to end user service

entrance

Normal Current
L
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D
Through the overcurrent device

and to the load
Normal Current
L
O
A
D
Through the load returning to

the service entrance
Normal Current
L
O
A
D
Back to the transformer

Normal Current
L
O
A
D
What determines the amount of current that

flows in a circuit?

Normal Current
L
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A
D
The total resistance or impedance in the

circuit

Fault Current
L
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A
D
How is the circuit protected against overload

and short circuit?

Normal Current
15A Circuit Breaker
L
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D
The overcurrent device or circuit breaker

Fault Current
L
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A
D
What happens if the hot conductor

comes into contact with the metal box?

Fault Current
Ground Fault

Fault Current
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A stranger touches it accidently…

Is he in danger?

Fault Current
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No … why not?

Fault Current
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Because the transformer we’re looking at is not

grounded so there is no path through the
earth for current to return to the transformer

Fault Current
Things to remember …
• No circuit – no current
• Current does not flow unless there is a
continuous path from one side of the source
of supply to the other
• Current cannot travel through the earth to
return to a transformer unless the transformer
is grounded
Fault Current
L
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So the stranger in this situation

is perfectly safe … however
Fault Current
L
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What do you know about utility

company transformers?
Fault Current
L
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D
They’re grounded, thus our friend is in

serious danger.

GROUNDING
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Utility transformers are grounded, need to

do something to our equipment to safe our
friend from electrical shock
GROUNDING
L
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Grounding the equipment provides a

second path for the fault current
GROUNDING
L
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The first path is through our friend to

earth and back to the transformer
GROUNDING
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The second path is through the metal equipment to

earth and back to the transformer
GROUNDING & BONDING
• The importance of grounding electrical

equipment seems like well understood
•The importance of bonding to create a low
impedance ground fault return path seems
like still less understood

GROUNDING & BONDING

GROUNDING & BONDING
L
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The voltage is 240V. Need to know the

resistance in this circuit to calculate current
GROUNDING & BONDING
• Assuming a minimum of 5 ohms

resistance through each grounding
electrode, we know there is at least 10
ohms resistance in the fault path that we
created by grounding our equipment

GROUNDING & BONDING
• Therefore, using Ohm’s Law:

–V = I x R
– I=V/R
– And so, I = 240 / 10 = 24A
• Will 24 Amps trip our 15A circuit breaker?

Yes but takes long time maybe 15s or more

GROUNDING & BONDING

GROUNDING & BONDING
• We need to open a 15A Circuit Breaker as

quickly as possible. This will require a fault
current of 60A to 75A (four to five times the
rating of the breaker)

GROUNDING & BONDING
L
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The overcurrent device does not open

instantaneously
GROUNDING & BONDING
Bonding Connection
L
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D
The vital connection left out of our discussion

until now is the bonding of metal equipment to
the service neutral
GROUNDING & BONDING
• Every piece of conductive metal must be connected

together by continuous metal-to-metal contact or by
an equipment grounding conductor
• These connections create an electrically continuous,
low resistance path from every part of our system
back to the service equipment
• At the service, these connections terminate on the
neutral bus creating an: “Effective Ground Fault
Current Path”

GROUNDING & BONDING
These bonding connections let us use the neutral

as a return path for fault current

GROUNDING & BONDING
.357 ohms
.57 ohms
L
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D
.3 ohms
The total resistance in this path

created by bonding is .714 ohms

GROUNDING & BONDING
• Therefore, using Ohm’s Law:

E=IxR
I=V /R
And so, I = 240 / .714 = 336A

GROUNDING & BONDING
L
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The effective ground fault current path allows

336A of fault current to flow and forces the
overcurrent device to open instantaneously
GROUNDING & BONDING
Grounding to assure protective device operation

• A ground fault return path to the point where the
power source neutral conductor is grounded is an
essential safety feature.
• An insulation failure or other fault that allows a phase
wire to make contact with an enclosures will find a low-
impedance path back to the power source neutral.
• The resulting overcurrent will cause the circuit breaker
of fuse to disconnect the faulted circuit promptly.

Protection Device

Protection Device

Protection Device

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GROUNDING

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

“It is commonly reported at power quality

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

“Almost 75% of the PQ problems inside the

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

• Evaluating the wiring and grounding practices is

• Many power quality problems are solved by simply

• The IEEE Standard 1100-1999 and few other

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

• According to NEC , ground electrode must be driven into the earth to a

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

2. PQ Enhancement or Noise Control

If several points are used for ground connections,

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

Occur when two or more pieces of equipment share

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

To avoid this problem, only one ground should be

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

• Usually in building, grounding grids are used

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

Grounding grid in a computer room

Pg 167, fig 5.28

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

• The goal is to prevent the possibility of high

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

A person will get an electrical shock if a part of the

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

• Severity of the shock depends

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

Reactions to Electrical Shock

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

Path of Current Flow - Normal Operation

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

From transformer to end user service

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

Through the overcurrent device

Through the load returning to

Back to the transformer

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

What determines the amount of current that

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

The total resistance or impedance in the

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

How is the circuit protected against overload

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

15A Circuit Breaker

The overcurrent device or circuit breaker

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

What happens if the hot conductor

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

A stranger touches it accidently…

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

Because the transformer we’re looking at is not

BEE 4153_POWER QUALITY

So the stranger in this situation

What do you know about utility

They’re grounded, thus our friend is in