PE 351

Power System Analysis

Lecture: Differences Between

Neutral and Earth

Dr. Shahid Alam

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering
Sciences and Technology
s.alam@giki.edu.pk
Neutral wire

o Neutral is the normal “Return” wire. It

completes the circuit from load to the power
station
o Neutral conductor carries current in normal
operating conditions
o Neutral represents the reference point within
an electrical system

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Earth or Ground

o Earth or Ground wire is a safety wire for

human body and electrical equipment
o Earth conductor carries no current in normal
operation
o Earth is a conductor that carries current under
fault conditions

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Differences Between Neutral and Earth

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Differences Between Neutral and Earth

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Differences Between Neutral and Earth

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Measurement of the voltages:
(L, N, E) of home supply

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Differences Between Neutral and Earth:
Neutral voltage w.r.t earth

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Differences Between Neutral and Earth:
Line voltage w.r.t earth

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Differences Between Neutral and Earth:
Line voltage w.r.t neutral

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Three phase supply

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Three phase supply: Two connections

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Power supply earthing: Why?

A) B)

• A) is a floating system • Voltages are known and

• Incase of lightning strikes, fixed in system B)
system A) will damage • Lightning strikes may not
damage the system
Power supply side earthing is done to protect the equipment 12
Load side earthing
A)
• In A), the box represents a load
• If there is fault, the full 240 V
may appear across the body
• The current may not be enough
to blow the fuse
B)
• In B), the body of the same
load is connected to earth
• Heavy fault current will go to
ground and fuse will be blown
• It is a safe system 13
Three phase balanced system

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Three phase balanced system

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Problems due to line-earth loads

For watching the complete video, click on the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl3tvO51RTI
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