Earthing

Practices
By
Er. J. M. Pardhi
Superintending Engineer,
Testing Circle, MSEDCL,
Nagpur.
1

Objectives of Earthing
To dissipate electric currents into the
earth without exceeding operating &
equipment limits.
To ensure human safety from electric
shock.
To prevent hazardous voltage for
reducing risk of fires and personal
injuries.
2

Earthing Systems
Basically 6 grounding systems in use:
Equipment grounds.
Static grounds.
Systems grounds.
Maintenance grounds.
Electronic grounds.
Lightning grounds.

Equipment Grounds
It is the physical connection to earth
of non current carrying metal parts.
All metal parts of equipments that
personal may come into contact to
be at zero potential with respect to
ground.
All metal parts must be
interconnected and grounded to
ensure path of lowest impedance for
flow of ground fault current.
4

Equipment Grounds

Static Grounds
Connection made between a piece of
equipment and earth for the purpose
of draining off electricity charges
before a flashover potential is
reached.
Utilized in dry materials handling,
flammable liquid pumps and delivery
equipments, plastic piping and
explosive storage facilities.
6

System Grounds
Refers to the point in an electrical
circuit that is connected to earth
through electrical neutral.
The sole purpose is to protect
equipment.
Provides low impedance path for fault
currents improving ground fault
coordination.
Ensures longer insulation life of
7

TYPES OF GROUNDING SYSTEMS

Ungrounded System:
The ungrounded system is one that has no intentional
connection between the neutral or any phase and ground.
Please note that an ungrounded system is grounded
through the concept of capacitively coupling. The neutral
potential of an ungrounded system, with balanced loading
will be close to ground potential due to the capacitance
between each phase conductor and ground.
Low ground fault current.
Very high voltages to ground potential on unfaulted phases.
Sustained faults lead to system line-to-line voltages on
unfaulted line.
Insulation failure.
Failure due to restrike ground faults.

TEAMWORKnet, Inc.

TYPES OF GROUNDING SYSTEMS

Solidly Grounded System:
The solidly grounded system is one that has the neutral
connected to ground without an intentional impedance.
In contrast to the ungrounded system the solidly
grounded system will result in a large magnitude of
current to flow (Aids in coordination), but has no
increase in voltage on unfaulted phases.
Low initial cost to install and implement, but stray currents
then become a possible consequence.
Common in low voltage distribution systems, such as
overhead lines.
typically feeds to transformer primary with high side fuse
protection.
Not preferred for industrial or commercial facilities due to
high magnitude fault currents.
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Normal Pipe type Earthing for trans. line

10

10

Distribution
Transformer Double
Pole Structure.
- as per REC
Construction
Standard.

11

Typical
arrangement of
earthing to
railway traction
system.

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HT Metering Cubicle

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14

15

16

17

18

19

TYPES OF GROUNDING SYSTEMS

Low Resistance Grounded System:
The low resistance grounded system is one that has the
neutral connected to ground through a small resistance
that limits the fault current. The size of the grounding
resistor is selected to detect and clear the faulted
circuit..
The resistor can limit ground currents to a desired level
based on coordination requirement or relay limitations.
Limits transient overvoltages during ground faults.
Low resistance grounding is not recommended for low
voltage systems due to the limited ground fault current.
This reduced fault current can be insufficient to positively
operate fuses and/or series trip units.
Ground fault current typically in the 100 600 Amp range.
TEAMWORKnet, Inc.

20

TYPES OF GROUNDING SYSTEMS

High Resistance Grounded System:
The high resistance grounded system is one that has the neutral
connected to ground through a resistive impedance whose
resistance is selected to allow a ground fault current through the
resistor equal to or slightly more that the capacitive charging
current of the system.
The resistor can limit ground currents to a desired level based on
coordination requirement or relay limitations.
Limits transient overvoltages during ground faults.
Physically large resistor banks.
Very low ground fault current, typically under 10 Amps.
Special relaying methods utilized to detect and remove ground
faults.
High resistance grounding is typically applied to situations where it
is essential to prevent unplanned outages.
Recent trend has been to utilize high resistance grounding methods
on 600 volt systems and lower.
TEAMWORKnet, Inc.

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Components of earthing system in

Sub-stn.

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Sub Station Earth Mesh

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Maintenance Grounds
Utilized for safe work practices.
It is a temporary ground.

Electronic Grounds
Equipment ground and system ground are
combined and applied in unity.
Must not only provide a means of stabilizing input
voltage levels, but also act as zero voltage
reference point.
Must be able to provide effective grounding and
bonding functions well into the high frequency
MHz range.
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System Grounds
Methods of System
Grounding
Characteristics

Ungrounde
d

Solid
Ground

Low Resistance
Ground

High Resistances
Ground

Susceptible to Transient
overvoltages

WORST

GOOD

GOOD

BEST

Under fault conditions (line-toground) increase of voltage stress

POOR

BEST

GOOD

POOR

Arc Fault Damage

WORST

POOR

GOOD

BEST

Personnel Safety

WORST

POOR

GOOD

BEST

Reliability

WORST

GOOD

BETTER

BEST

Economics' (Maintenance costs)

WORST

POOR

POOR

BEST

Plant continues to operates under

single line-to-ground fault

FAIR

POOR

POOR

BEST

Ease of locating ground faults (time)

WORST

GOOD

BETTER

BEST

System coordination

NOT
POSSIBLE

GOOD

BETTER

BEST

Upgrade of ground system

WORST

GOOD

BETTER

BEST

Two voltage levels on same system

NOT
POSSIBLE

POSSIBL
E

NOT POSSIBLE

NOT POSSIBLE

GOOD

BEST

Reduction in number of faults

Initial fault current Into ground

WORST
BETTER
TEAMWORKnet, Inc.
BEST
WORST

GOOD

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BETTER

Lightning Grounds

Depends upon the structure, equipment to be

protected and the level of lightning protection
required of desired.

Earthing of LA

Straight risers
Separate earth rod
per phase
Rods connected to
each other & to Earthgrid.
No G.I. pipe for riser.

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Earthing in a EHV Substation

CEA Regulation 2010 (I.E.Rules 1956)

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Earthing in a EHV Substation

CEA Regulation 2010 (I.E.Rules 1956)

28

Earth Mat Design

Earthing system in a Sub Station
comprises of;
Earth mat or grid.
Earth electrode.
Earthing conductor.
Earth connectors.
Primary requirement of earthing is to have
a low earth resistance.
To consider safe limit of step/ touch/
transfer potential .
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Surface potentials in a Substation

1)Step potential: The difference in

surface potential experienced by a
person bridging a distance of 1 meter
with the feet, without contacting any
grounded object .

2)Touch potential: The Potential

difference between the Ground
Potential Rise (GPR) & the surface
potential at the point where a person
is standing while at the same time
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Ground Potential Rise (GPR)

The maximum electrical potential that
a sub-station grounding grid may
attain relative to a distant grounding
point assumed to be at the potential of
remote earth. This voltage is equal to:
G.P.R.= Ig x Rg
where,
Ig= Maximum grid current
Rg= Grid resistance
(Grid means Earth grid i.e. Earthing
system )
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Step & Touch Voltages

Tolerable Step & Touch

voltages

Estep = 0.116 (Rb + 2Rf) / ts

= 0.116 (1000 + 2 x 3 ) / ts
= 0.116 (1000 + 6 )/ ts
where, = Resistivity of soil.

Etouch = 0.116 ( 1000+ Rf/2)/ ts

= 0.116 ( 1000 + 1.5 )/ ts
While designing earthing system, care is taken to
ensure that actual Step & Touch voltages are well
within tolerable Step & Touch Voltages.
Note that tolerable touch voltage is much less than
tolerable step voltage. Hence, is critical.
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METHOD OF MEASURING SOIL

RESISTIVITY:
Geological information and soil
samples
Variation of depth method
Two point method
Four point method
- Equally spaced Wenner
arrangement
- Unequally spaced or Schlumberger
- Palmer arrangement
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WENNER FOUR ELECTRODE METHOD:

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UNEQUALLED SPACED OR
SCHLUMBERGER PALMER
ARRANGEMENT:

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EQUIPMENT USED FOR MEASUREMENT OF

SOIL RESISTIVITY:

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FACTORS AFFECTING THE SOIL

RESISTIVITY ():

Type of the soil.

Moisture.
Dissolved salt in water.
Temperature.
Grain size and its distribution.
Seasonal variation.
Artificial treatment.
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Effect of temperature on soil resistivity

RESISTIVITY

-15 C

0 C

TEMPERATUR
E

50C
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Transferred Potential
It is a special case of the touch voltage
where a voltage is transferred into or out of
the sub-station from or to a remote point
external to the sub-station site.
A person standing in a sub-station coming
in contact with say rails/water
pipeline/neutral coming from an adjacent
sub-station at the time of occurrence of
earth-fault at that sub-station gets exposed
to the transferred potential which equals
difference in GPRs of the two sub-stations.
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Transferred Potential

Factors influencing Earth Mat

Design

Magnitude of Fault Current.

Duration of Fault.
Soil resistivity.
Resistivity of Surface Material.
Shock Duration
Material of Earth Mat Conductor.
Earthing Mat Geometry.
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Calculation of size of earth grid

conductor.
Conductor area A =

root[

T cap x 10-4 x ln Ko + Tm ]

tc r x Pv

Ko + Ta

Simplified formula for steel grid conductor

Area A = I x t
where; A =area of earth conductor
in mm2
K
I = short circuit current in kA
t = duration of short circuit current in
sec.
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K factor = 80 for steel

Calculation of size of earth grid conductor.

If mat is made up of Flat then; A = Area of Flat
Give allowance of 35% for corrosion
If it is a conductor; A = r2 , where r = (A) /
STANDARD FLATs in mm
10 x 6, 20x6, 30x6, 40x6, 50x6, 60x6, 50x8,
65x10, 75x10
ROD:
40mm mild steel rod
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Maintenance Schedule
Watering of earth pit
- Daily
Measurement of earth resistance
of individual earth pit
- Half yearly
Measurement of combined earth
resistance at all the pits
- Half yearly
Checking of inter connections
between earth pits and tightness
of bolts and nuts
- Quarterly
45

Case Study
Fatal Electrical Accident to farmer at
Kholapur (Amravati) dtd:06/06/2012.
Bird fault occurred at 11kV cut point.
Support insulator not provided for cut
point jumpers.
High resistance arcing fault.
Sufficient fault current not developed.
Feeder protection not operated.
High soil resistivity and high impedance.
Electric pole, stay and soil acted as load.
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50

Earth fault current- two return

paths

Parallel path for fault current through Ground Wire of

trans. line
Sourc
e

Faul
t
Grid current Ig through
earth
51

Electric currents & their effects on

Human body
Sr.No

A.C. Current
range (mA)

Called as

Effect

1.0

Threshold

Tingling

1 to 6

Let-go

Can hold &

release

9 to 25 >
More than 25
>

Painful
breathlessne
ss.

Difficult to
release

116

alarm

Ventricular
fibrillation,
heart failure.
52

Tolerable Body current

Dr. Dalziel observed that the limiting
current a human body weighing 50Kg
can tolerate without ventricular
fibrillation is given by:
Ib = 0.116/ts
where,
ts=duration of shock current
Similarly,
Ib = 0.157/ts for 70
Kg. weight.
If ts = 1second, Ib=116 milli-amps or
157 ma.
53

Earthing of EHV sub-stationschallenges

With advent of transmission voltage of 765KV &

ambitious programme of addition of Generation
capacities at national level (78700 MW by 2012)
fault levels are going up.
With higher X/R ratios of lines, D. C. component
in fault current takes longer time for decay.
Results in higher temp. rise of earthing system.
Breaker re-closures increase duration of shock
currents needing more efficient earthing system.
Switching & lightning surges need good
earthing.
54

Earthing system of EHV sub-stationscare to be taken up

Measurement of average resistivity
of new s/s by taking numerous
readings spread all over the area.
Projected fault level at the s/s in next
10 years to be considered while
deciding earthing system.
Allowance for corrosion of
electrode(15% for 12 years) in
moderately corrosive soil to be kept.
55

Monitoring & maintenance of

Earthing system
Continuity of under-ground earth
conductors
to be checked.
Continual observation, tightening,
painting of over-ground connections.
Measurement of earth resistance at
least once a year (I.E. Rules, section
67).
Treatment by Bentonite where
necessary.
56

EARTHING OF EHV
TRANSMISSION LINE

57

System of earthing
Ground-wire strung on tower peaks & bonded
to tower body.
Earthing at tower bases by Pipe type or
Counter-poise type.
Surge Arresters provided at wide creek
crossings.
Electrode line with special earthing station for
HVDC line for Single pole earth return mode.
Earth resistance below 10 ohms to avoid back
flash.
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THANK YOU!

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