Earthing

PRESENTATION BY: Er. Satnam Singh Lecturer(Electrical engg.) GPC Mohali (Khunimajra)

Concept of Earthing Systems

All the people living or working in residential, commercial and industrial installations, particularly the operators and personnel who are in close operation and contact with electrical systems and machineries, should essentially be protected against possible electrification. To achieve this protection, earthing system of an installation is defined, designed and installed according to the standard requirements..

What Is Earthing
The process of connecting metallic bodies of all the electrical apparatus and equipment to huge mass of earth by a wire having negligible resistance is called Earthing.

What Is Earthing
The term earthing means connecting the neutral point of supply system or the non current carrying parts of the electrical apparatus to the general mass of earth in such a manner that all times an immediate discharge of electrical energy takes place without danger.

 Provide an alternative path for the fault current to flow so that it will not endanger the user Ensure that all exposed conductive parts do not reach a dangerous potential Maintain the voltage at any part of an electrical system at a known value so as to prevent over current or excessive voltage on the appliances or equipment.

Good Earthing Means

Good Earthing must have low impedance enough to ensure that sufficient current can flow through the safety device so that it disconnects the supply ( <0.4 sec ). Fault current is much more than the full load current of the circuit which melts the fuse. Hence, the appliance is disconnected automatically from the supply mains.

Qualities Of Good Earthing

Must be of low electrical resistance Must be of good corrosion resistance Must be able to dissipate high fault current repeatedly

Purpose of Earthing
To save human life from danger of electrical shock or death by blowing a fuse i.e. To provide an alternative path for the fault current to flow so that it will not endanger the user To protect buildings, machinery & appliances under fault conditions ie. To ensure that all exposed conductive parts do not reach a dangerous potential. To provide safe path to dissipate lightning and short circuit currents. To provide stable platform for operation of sensitive electronic equipments i.e. To maintain the voltage at any part of an electrical system at a known value so as to prevent over current or excessive voltage on the appliances or equipment . To provide protection against static electricity from friction

Electric shock
An electric shock (electrocution)occurs when two portion of a persons body come in contact with electrical conductors of a circuit which is at different potentials, thus producing a potential difference across the body. The human body does have resistance and when the body is connected between two conductors at different potential a circuit is formed through the body and current will flow When the human body comes in contact with only one conductor, a circuit is not formed and nothing happens. When the human body comes in contact with circuit conductors, no matter what the voltage is there is potential for harm.

Electric shock
The higher the potential difference the more the damage. The effect of an electric shock is a function of what parts of body come in contact with each conductor, the resistance of each contact point the surface resistance of the body at the contact as well as other factor. When the electrical contact is such that the circuit path through the body is across the heart, you have the greatest potential for death.

Electric shock
As shown in fig the human bodys resistance varies from as low as 500 ohms to as high as 600,000 ohms. As the skin become moist the contact resistance drop. If the skin is moist due to sweat that contain salt the resistance drop further Fig 1 illustrates the amount of current that can flow through human body at three different potential differences across the body also shown is the effect of different current level both AC and DC the ultimate effect is fibrillation which cause the heart to stop and result in death.

Electric shock
When a high voltage such as 13,800V is involved the body is literally cooked and at times explodes

Short circuit
To analyze how an electrical shock occurs and how grounding is applied you need to look at the circuit involved. Fig 2 illustrates the basic circuit that consist of a source, a transformer or generator for all AC circuits, circuit protection, conductors(R1s), and a load (RL).

Short circuit
A short circuit is any unintended connection Rsc across the circuit conductors between the power source and the load See the second circuit in fig short circuit are classified as bolted shorts, momentary shorts,intermittent shorts, or high impedance shorts. A bolted short which is rare is a very low resistant connection such as two conductors being bolted together.

Short circuit
Most shorts are high resistant or they are momentary or intermittent. The high resistant short starts out as a high resistance or impedance connection but usually progress to a low impedance connection. In electrical system shorts are classified as phase to phase, phase to neutral , or phase to ground short.

Short circuit
Most short are phase to ground and short which start as phase to phase or phase to neutral progress to a phase to ground short When considering short circuit and protecting against the damage they can cause one needs to know what is the maximum amount of short circuit current that can flow in a given circuit.

Equipment Earthing
In case of insulation failure, the primary object of connecting all the above points and apparatus to earth is to release the charge accumulated on them immediately to earth so that the person coming in contact may not experience electric shock.

Equipment Earthing(Cont.)
The other object is that a heavy current when flows through the circuit that operates the protective devices that is fuse or CB, which open the circuit

Max. Value of Earth Resistance to be achieved

Equipment to be Earthed Large Power Stations Major Substations Max. Value of Earth Resistance to be achieved in Ohms 0.5 1.0

Small Substations
Factories Substations Lattice Steel Tower Industrial Machine and Equipment

2.0
1.0 3.0 0.5

* The Earth Resistance depends upon the moisture content in the soil.

Methods of Earthing
Conventional Earthing Maintenance Free Earthing

Conventional Earthing
The Conventional system of Earthing calls for digging of a large pit into which a GI pipe or a copper plate is positioned in the middle layers of charcoal and salt. It requires maintenance and pouring of water at regular interval.

FIGURE:.

CONVENTIONAL EARTHING

Maintenance Free Earthing

It is a new type of earthing system which is Readymade, standardized and scientifically developed. Its Benefits are MAINTENANCE FREE: No need to pour water at regular interval- except in sandy soil. CONSISTENCY: Maintain stable and consistent earth resistance around the year. MORE SURFACE AREA: The conductive compound creates a conductive zone, which provides the increased surface area for peak current dissipation. And also get stable reference point.

Maintenance Free Earthing(Contd.)

LOW EARTH RESISTANCE: Highly conductive. Carries high peak current repeatedly. NO CORROSION: LONG LIFE. EASY INSTALLATION.

Methods of Conventional Earthing

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Plate Earthing Pipe Earthing Rod Earthing Strip Earthing Earthing through Water Mains

Earthing Electrode
The resistance of a ground electrode has 3 basic components: A) The resistance of the ground electrode itself and the connections to the electrode. B) The contact resistance of the surrounding earth to the electrode. C) The resistance of the surrounding body of earth around the ground Electrode. It consist of three basic components: 1. Earth Wire 2. Connector 3. Electrode

Plate Earthing
In this type of earthing plate either of copper or of G.I. is buried into the ground at a depth of not less than 3 meter from the ground level. The earth plate is embedded in alternative layer of coke and salts for a minimum thickness of about 15cm. The earth wire(copper wire for copper plate earthing and G.I. wire for G.I. plate earthing) is securely bolted to an earth plate with the help of bolt nut and washer made of copper, in case of copper plate earthing and of G.I. in case of G.I. plate earthing.

PLATE EARTHING

Pipe earthing
Pipe earthing is best form of earthing and it is cheap also in this system of earthing a GI pipe of 38 mm dia and 2meters length is embedded vertically in ground to work as earth electrod but the depth depend upon the soil conditions, there is no hard and fast rule for this. But the wire is embedded upto the wet soil. The earth wire are fastened to the top section of the pipe with nut and bolts. The pit area arround the GI pipe filled with salt and coal mixture for improving the soil conditions and efficiency of the earthing system. It can take heavy leakage current for the same electrode size in comparison to plate earthing. The earth wire connection with GI pipes being above the ground level can be checked for carrying out continuity test as and when desired, while in plate earthing it is difficult. In summmer season to have an effective earthing three or four bucket of water is put through the funnel for better continuity of earthing.

PIPE EARTHING

ROD EARTHING
In this system of earthing 12.5mm diameter solid rods of copper 16mm diameter solid rod of GI or steel or hollow section of 25mm GI pipe of length not less than 3 meters are driven vertically into the earth In order to increase the embeded length of electrod under the ground, which is some time necessary to reduce the earth resistance to desired value more than one rod section are hammered one above the other. This system of earthing is suitable for area which are sandy in character . This system of earthing is very cheap

STRIP OR WIRE EARTHING

In this system of earthing strip electrod of cross section not less than 25mm into 1.6mm of copper or 25mm * 4mm of GI or steel are burried in horizontal trenches of minimum depth of 0.5m If round conductor are used their cross sectional area shall not be smaller than three if copper is used and 6mm2 if GI or steel is used. The length of burried conductor shall be sufficient to give the required earth resistance (about 0.5to 1.5)

It shall however be not less than 15 m

The electrod shall be as widely distributed as possible in a single straight or circular trenches radiating from a point

This type of earthing is used in rockey soil earth bed because at such places excavation work for plate earthing is difficult

Procedure for filling up New Earthing Pit

Step A : Excavate the earthing pit size 2000 X 2000 X 2500 mm depth. Sprinkle sufficient quantity of water in the bottom and surrounding walls to become wetty only. Fill up the bottom layer of the pit up to 250 mm height from the bottom by mixture black soft soil + salt + wooden charcoal pieces. (Fig. I) Step B : Prepare the electrode assembly as per Sr. No. - 3 of the drawing and rest the entire Assembly in the pit as shown in (Fig. II)

 Collect thin C.R.C. sheet approx 18 to 20 SWG having size 500 mm width 3.5 meter length approx. (Please make joints of three to four pieces to achieve requirement of 3.5 meter length (Fig. III-a) Prepare the Cylindrical Ring from the above sheet by bending both ends & joining each other. The diameter "D" of the cylindrical ring shall arrive approx. 1000 mm and height shall be 500 mm. Collect two pieces of scrap G.I. wire of approx. 8SWG and prepare two lifting round handles (Hooks) on upper side of the cylindrical ring to facilitate the lifting of the Cylindrical Ring. (Fig. III-b) Now wear this cylindrical ring to the electrode pipe of the electrode assembly such a way that the electrode pipe remains in the centre of the cylindrical ring. (Fig III-c)

Procedure for filling up New Earthing Pit Step C :

 Fill up the inner part of the Cylindrical Ring with Mixture - I ( Homogeneous mixture of Black Soft Soil. The remaining part i.e. the Gap between walls of the pit and outer periphery of the Cylindrical Ring by Mixture - II. After completing filling work of both the mixtures up to 500 mm height, proper ramming and watering is to be done. (Fig. IV)

Procedure for filling up New Earthing Pit Step D :

Procedure for filling up New Earthing Pit

Step E : There after lift the Cylindrical ring by help of two lifting handles (hooks) and again rest it on the layer for carrying out filling of 2nd layer cycle. Again fill up the inner cylindrical part of the ring by Mixture - I and outer gap between walls of the pit & outer Cylindrical periphery by Mixture - II up to height of the Cylinder (i.e. 500 mm) (Fig. V)

 There after lift the Cylindrical ring by help of two lifting handles (hooks) and again rest it on the layer for carrying out filling of 2nd layer cycle. Again fill up the inner cylindrical part of the ring by Mixture - I and outer gap between walls of the pit & outer Cylindrical periphery by Mixture - II up to height of the Cylinder (i.e. 500 mm) (Fig. V)

Procedure for filling up New Earthing Pit Step E :

 Lift the cylindrical ring by lifting handles (hooks) after proper ramming and watering. Now again place the cylindrical ring on upper layer and arrange 3rd cycle, subsequently complete the filling of entire pit. Please see that water content is minimum 20 % Fill up upper layer of the pit by crushed rock pieces (Gravel) size 50 X 35 mm. 1 CMT. approx. to provide insulating layer to person moving side by the pit, and to prevent reptile movements subsequently causing hazards.

Procedure for filling up New Earthing Pit Step F :

Standard Pipe & Plate Type Earthing Design for the 11 Kv. System Equipments, Distribution Transformer Centers, L.T. Distribution System Equipments
Design Details : 1. Earthing Pit : Size 1000 X 1000 X 1800 mm Depth.M.S. / C.I. Plate : 500 X 500 X 8 mm Thick. 2. Electrode Assembly : 40 mm GI / CI Perforated pipe duly fitted or welded with base plate and 50 X 6 mm flat termination taken on top for equipment earthing as shown in drawing.

Standard Pipe & Plate Type Earthing Design for the 11 Kv. System Equipments, Distribution Transformer Centers, L.T. Distribution System Equipments
4. Mixture - I : Homogeneous mixture of black soft soil 0.3 CMT. approx. 5. Mixture - II : Homogeneous mixture of common salt 25 Kgs. + wood charcoal pieces 25 Kgs. + Black soft soil 1 CMT. Approx. 6. Crushed Rock pieces Gravel Size 50 X 35 mm 0.1 CMT. Approx. 7. Arrangement for earthing lead terminations from equipment body, and connection for main earthing Grid.

Typical arrangement for Pipe electrode earthing pit (Bore Type)

Design Details : 1. 75 mm thick RCC Cover. 2. 300 mm 6000 mm deep (Approx. 20 ft.) bore in the earth. 3. 65 mm 6000 mm long (Approx 20 ft.) G.I. pipe electrode. Forged at the top up to 75 mm length and 12 mm hole provided for taking earthing connection. 4. A homogeneous mixture of 50 kgs. wooden coal pieces + 50 kgs. common salt 5. Water pouring purpose at the time of routine maintenance

Applications
Telecommunication Transmission Substations & Power Generations Transformer Neutral earthing Lightning Arrestor Earthing Equipment Body Earthing Water Treatment Plants Heavy Industries College, Hospitals, Banks Residential Building