EARTHING

Date: 03.12.2018
Presentation by :
SOURABH TIWARI
DY.MGR (E3)- ELECTRICAL
BHEL-PEM, NOIDA
 What is Earthing ?
• The process of connecting metallic bodies of all the electrical
apparatus and equipment to huge mass of earth by a wire/flat
having negligible resistance is called Earthing.

TRANSFORMER
Difference between Earthing, Grounding and
Bonding
Earthing and Grounding is the same terms used for earthing.
Grounding commonly used for earthing in the North American standards like IEEE, NEC,
ANSI and UL etc while, Earthing is used in European, Common wealth countries and Britain
standards like IS and IEC etc. 
Bonding used for jointing two wires (as well as conductors, pipes
or appliances together.
Bonding is known as connecting the metal parts of the machines
to bring them at the same level of electric potential parts of
different machines which is not considered to be carrying
electric current during normal operation.
 Necessity of Earthing

Safety of personnel
Safety of equipment (Prevent or at least minimize damage to
equipment as a result of flow of heavy currents).
Improvement of the reliability of the power system.
To Protect Electric system and buildings form lighting.
To serve as a return conductor in electric traction system and
communication.
To avoid the risk of fire in electrical installation systems.
 Classification of Earthing
The earthing is broadly divided as :
a) System earthing or Functional Earthing: Connection
between part of operating system in a plant, like LV neutral of a
power transformer winding or Earthing of electronic equipment
and earth.
b) Equipment earthing or Protective Earthing: Connecting
bodies of equipment (like electric motor body, transformer
tank, switchgear box, operating rods of air break switches, LV
breaker body, HV breaker body, feeder breaker bodies etc.) to
earth.
 Classification based on PEM Packages

Below ground earthing Materials

Above ground earthing Materials
Lightning Protection Materials
 Applicable Standards:

IS 2309 : Protection of buildings and allied structures against lightning

IS 3043 : Code of practice for earthing.
IEEE Std. 80/2013 : IEEE Guide for safety in AC power plant Grounding
IEEE 142 : Grounding of Industrial and Commercial Power Systems.
IER : Indian Electricity Rules 1956
 Below Ground earthing

1. Analysis of Soil resistivity.

2. Sizing of Ground conductor.
3. Determination of maximum grid current.
4. Determination of maximum permissible touch and step potentials
5. Designing touch and step potentials
Soil Resistivity Testing
Wenner 4 point method:
Soil Resistivity Testing
Wenner 4 point method:
Sizing of grounding conductor (as per IEEE 80)
 Touch & Step potential

VIDEO
Grid layout (through e-Tap)

A mesh consisting of a no. of ground conductors (horizontally laid) &

Earth electrodes (vertically laid) forms a grid below the ground level
(generally @600 mm depth).
Main plant Grid pdf
Material used for BGE :

1) Mild steel rods : Joined by Electric arc welding.

2) Stranded copper conductor & copper clad steel rods : Joined by
Exothermic welding.

Video : Exothermic welding

EARTHING SYSTEM ON ROCKY SOIL

CHALLENGES:
1) All rock formations that have a high electrical resistivity.
2) Difficult to design/install HV & LV Electrical Earthing System.
3) Difficult to Erect Earth Mesh and ensure continuity of Earthing
Conductor.
 EARTHING SYSTEM ON ROCKY SOIL

SOLUTIONS:
1) Chem-Rod: Chem-rod saturates the interfacing cylinder with naturally occurring
electrolytes to solve even the most challenging of sites. 
2) Backfilling the rod with bentonite is even better. Blasting the rocks to create cracks
which will then be filled by low resistivity materials such as bentonite under
pressure.
3) Conductive cement can be used to increase the contact surface area between the
earthing electrode with the surrounding soil. Horizontal earthing conductors placed
on the rocks can be encased in cement concrete to provide mechanical stability and
low contact resistance between metal and rock.
4) The deep well grounding method requires the construction of a well at a certain
depth underground to attract and retain water molecules via capillary effect and
also establish water saturation region in area surrounding the well.
5) Parallel installations of multiple earthing rods are highly recommended in rocky,
mountainous areas as well as shallow soil when deep-
driving earthing rods are not feasible.
THANK YOU