IUA

college of engineering
electrical & electronic department
Design Of Electrical Power Systems Equipment's
lec 4
Design of Earthing System
Earthing :-
“Earthing means an electrical connection to the general mass of earth to
provide safe passage to fault current to enable to operate protective
devices and provide safety to personnel and Equipment's.”
Types of Earthing:-
1. System Earthing
This is primarily concerned with the protection of Electrical equipment
by stabilizing the voltage with respect to ground (Connection between
part of plant in an operating system like LV neutral of a Power
Transformer winding and earth).
2. Equipment Earthing (Safety grouding)

This is primarily concerned with the protection of personnel from electric

shock by maintaining the potential of non current carrying equipment at or

near ground potential.

Connecting frames of equipment (like motor body, Transformer tank, Switch

gear box, operating rods of Air break switches, etc) to earth.

3. lightning/surge grounding
A good earthing system is required for:
· protection of buildings and installations against lightning
· safety of human and animal life by limiting touch and
step voltages to safe values.
· electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) i.e. limitation of
electromagnetic disturbances.
· correct operation of the electricity supply network and to
ensure good power quality.
There are four value for earthing resistance:
1. Earthing resistance for the lightning protection system shall not
exceed 5 OHM.
2. Earthing resistance for the power system earthing in power station
and power plants shall not exceed 5 OHM.
3. Earthing resistance for the electrical earthing (equipment earthing)
shall not exceed 4 OHM
4. Earthing resistance for the electronic devices instrumentations shall
not exceed 1 OHM.
Terms & Definitions

A. Step Potential or step voltage

Step Potential is the difference in the voltage between two points which are

one meter apart along the earth when ground currents flowing.

B. Touch Potential or touch voltage

Touch Potential is the difference in voltage between the object touched and

the ground point just below the person touching the object when ground

currents are flowing.

C. 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= 𝑅𝑔 * 𝐼𝐺
where, 𝐼𝐺 = Maximum earth grid current
𝑅𝑔= Earth Grid resistance
Data needed for design of earthing
Substation grid area
Soil resistivity at the site
Fault clearing time
Maximum grid current
Resistivity of soil at surface
Components of earthing system

• earth rods or electrod

• connecting cables from buried earthing grid to metallic parts of

structures and equipment's

• connections to earthed system neutrals

• the earth surface insulating covering material

 Cable(Earthing conductor)

Clamp
Test link
Rod(Earthing electrode)

Rod coupler
Factors on which design of earth grid depends
Materials used for earth electrodes and conductors must be
chosen carefully taking into account physical, chemical and
economical constraints. Ground conductor must be adequate for
fault current (considering corrosion).
Conductor sizing depends on fault current and conductivity as
well as mechanical strength of material used.
Resistivity of soil and surface layer determines the STEP and
TOUCH potentials, which determine safe values of operation .
 A good grounding system provides a low resistance in order to

minimize GPR (ground potential rise).

Grid geometry is a major factor in determining the step, touch and

mesh potential contours and current distribution in grid. The

limitations on the physical parameters of a ground grid are based on

economics and the physical limitations of the installation of the grid.

Selection of Electrode material
- The material for grounding grid should have good conductivity, be
mechanically rugged and resist fusing and deterioration of joints.
- Copper was very commonly used in the past. It has high conductivity
and is resistant to underground corrosion. However, a grid of copper
forms a galvanic cell with other buried structure and pipes and is likely
to hasten the corrosion of the latter.
- Aluminium is not used because of corrosion problem.
Determination of Maximum Grid Current

A single line to ground fault is more common and causes more fault

current as compared to a double line to ground fault. Therefore , the

design is based on single line to ground fault current. For calculation

of this current grid resistance and fault resistance are assumed to be

zero. Then
Recommended values of earth resistance
Step and touch voltage criteria

The safety of a person depends on preventing the critical amount of

shock energy from being absorbed before the fault is cleared and the

system de-energized. The maximum driving voltage of any accidental

circuit should not exceed the limits defined as follows. For step voltage

the limit is

The tolerable step voltage criteria is

For grounding resistance, the following formula is used
 H.W
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