Grounding systems

We find five major grounding

systems in MV installations:

ungrounded neutral
resistance grounding
reactance grounding
Petersen coil grounding
direct grounding

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 Five methods are used to fix the
potential of the neutral of Medium
Voltage networks with respect to the
ground.
They are differentiated by the kind
(capacity, resistance, inductance) and
the value (zero to infinity) of the
grounding link impedance Zn.

In normal balanced operation

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 In the case of a phase/ground
fault

Case of the ungrounded

neutral Zn =
The grounding mode is said to be
ungrounded neutral when there is no
intentional grounding in the neutral.
The ungrounded neutral network is a
solution frequently used for industrial
networks ( 15 kV) requiring continuity
service.
It is rarely used in transmission line
networks due to the overvoltages of which it
is the centre (e.g. lightning stroke on the
line).

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 The fault current is limited to capacitive currents,
which technically authorizes continuity of service.
This means that the equipment must be able to operate
with the network mesh voltage.
The capacitive current depends on the number of km of
cables used for it to flow.
It must be ensured that it is not a risk for persons and
equipment.
The phase voltage transformers complying with the IEC
standard can run for 8 hours with 1.9 V.
In normal operation, the overvoltages do not flow off
to the ground, the equipment must also be
superinsulated.
Insulation monitoring is compulsory and, should a
fault occur, qualified maintenance staff must take rapid
action.
Fault detection must be rapid, either by:
zero sequence voltage relays.
or a continuous insulation monitor.

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 Case of voltage transformers,star cabled, P2
grounded

+Remark 1: with respect to alternating current,

Lwrepresents several megohms.
The equivalent impedance of the VT is close to
Rc, i.e. a few tens of kiloohms to a few hundreds
of kiloohms according to the voltage.
In alternating current, the contribution of the VT's
on a grounding fault will be of the order of a few
tens of milliamps in a 10 kV network.
No grounding system can be disturbed by the
contribution of such a current level.

+Remark 2: with respect to direct current Lw = 0

The equivalent impedance of VT is then close to
Re, i.e. a few hundreds of ohms.

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 If an insulation monitor injects direct current, the monitor
would conclude there was a fault if the P2s were directly
grounded.
This is why in this case the P2s must be grounded via a
capacitor and a CARDEW in parallel in order to prevent
the direct current to loop round on itself by the VTs.

By opening each supplied circuit, starting with the

least critical:
the fault will be located when opening of the circuit
concerned causes it to clear.

By selective detection: the protection devices will be

said to be selective if the only protection device to react
is the one immediatly upstream from the fault. Only the
receiver concerned is disconnected.
This process is only suitable when the capacitive
currents are strong enough to be detected.

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