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 provide safe path to dissipate
lightning and short circuit currents.
To protect buildings, machinery &
appliances under fault conditions.
 Over voltage protection

Lightning, line surges or

unintentional contact with higher
voltage lines can cause
dangerously high voltages to the
electrical distribution system.
Earthing provides an alternative
path around the electrical system
to minimize damages in the System.
 Conventional methods of earthing

• 1. Plate type Earthing

• 2. Pipe type Earthing
• 3. Strip Earthing
 Pipe type Earthing
• Excavation on earth for a normal earth Pit size is 1.5M X
1.5M X 3.0 M.
• Use 500 mm X 500 mm X 10 mm GI Plate or Bigger Size for
more Contact of Earth and reduce Earth Resistance.
• Make a mixture of Wood Coal Powder Salt & Sand all in equal
part
• Wood Coal Powder use as good conductor of electricity, anti
corrosive, rust proves for GI Plate for long life.
• The purpose of coal and salt is to keep wet the soil
permanently.
• The salt percolates and coal absorbs water keeping the soil
wet.
• Care should always be taken by watering the earth pits in
summer so that the pit soil will be wet.
• Coal is made of carbon which is good conductor minimizing
the earth resistant.
• Salt use as electrolyte to form conductivity between GI Plate
Coal and Earth with humidity.
• Sand has used to form porosity to cycle water & humidity
around the mixture.
 Continue…
• Put GI Plate (EARTH PLATE) of size 500 mm X
500 mm X 10 mm in the mid of mixture.
• Use Double GI Strip size 30 mm X 10 mm to
connect GI Plate to System Earthling.
• It will be better to use GI Pipe of size 2.5″
diameter with a Flange on the top of GI Pipe
to cover GI Strip from EARTH PLATE to Top
Flange.
• Cover Top of GI pipe with a T joint to avoid
jamming of pipe with dust & mud and also
use water time to time through this pipe to
bottom of earth plate.
• Maintain less than one Ohm Resistance from
EARTH PIT conductor to a distance of 15
Meters around the EARTH PIT with another
conductor dip on the Earth at least 500 mm
deep.
 Factors affecting on Earth resistivity

• 1. Soil Resistivity
• 2. Soil Condition
• 3. Moisture
• 4. Dissolved salts
• 5. Climate Condition
• 6. Physical Composition
• 7. Location of Earth Pit
 Measurement of Earth Resistance by
use of Earth Tester
• For measuring soil resistivity Earth Tester is
used. It is also called the “MEGGER”.

• Soil resistivity =2π P R.

• R= Value of Earth resistance in ohm.
• Distance between the spikes in cm.
• π = 3.14
• P = Earth resistivity ohm-cm.
• Earth resistance value is directly proportional to
Soil resistivity value
Measurement of Earth Resistance
(Three point method)
 Continue…
• In this method earth tester terminal C1 and P1
are shorted to each other and connected to
the earth electrode (pipe) under test.
Terminals P2 and C2 are connected to the two
separate spikes driven in earth. These two
spikes are kept in same line at the distance of
25 meters and 50 meters due to which there
will not be mutual interference in the field of
individual spikes.
 Four Point Method

• In this method 4 spikes are driven in earth in

same line at the equal distance. Outer two spikes
are connected to C1 & C2 terminals of earth
tester. Similarly inner two spikes are connected
to P1 & P2 terminals. Now if we rotate generator
handle with specific speed, we get earth
resistance value of that place.
• In this method error due to polarization effect is
eliminated and earth tester can be operated
directly on A.C.
 GI Earthing Vs Copper Earthing
• As per IS 3043, the resistance of Plate electrode to
earth (R) = (r/A) X under root(P/A).
• Where r = Resistivity of Soil Ohm-meter.
• A=Area of Earthing Plate m3.
• The resistance of Pipe electrode to earth
(R) = (100r/2πL) X loge (4L/d)
• Where L= Length of Pipe/Rod in cm
• d=Diameter of Pipe/Rod in cm.
 Pipe Earthing Vs Plate Earthing
• Suppose Copper Plate having of size 1.2m x 1.2m x 3.15mm
thick. soil resistivity of 100 ohm-m,
• The resistance of Plate electrode to earth
R=( r/A)X under root(π/A) = (100/2.88)X(3.14/2.88)
=36.27 ohm
• Now, consider a GI Pipe Electrode of 50 mm Diameter and 3
m Long. soil resistivity of 100 Ohm-m,
• The resistance of Pipe electrode to earth
• R = (100r/2πL) X loge (4L/d) = (100X100/2X3.14X300) X
loge (4X300/5)
• =29.09 Ohm.
• From the above calculation the GI Pipe electrode offers a
much lesser resistance than even a copper plate electrode.
• As per IS 3043 Pipe, rod or strip has a much lower
resistance than a plate of equal surface area.
• 5% moisture in salt reduces earth resistivity
rapidly and further increase in salt content will
give a very little decrease in soil resistivity.

• To reduce soil resistivity, it is necessary to

dissolve in the moisture particle in the Soil.
Some substance like Salt/Charcoal is highly
conductive in water solution