Protection of Electronics & and

Consumers’ Premises against TOV

PRESENTED BY
S.APPAVOO
General Secretary/NFEES
Inconsistent earthing practices of DISCOM

No PME System

Neutral and body

interconnected
 IS 732: Effect of HV side fault on MV installation

U1 U2

IE Good Result-But neither practical nor Ur

RE RB
followed due to non-reliability of RE-RB
separation and influence of HV and LV
earthing system

5
 U1 U2

Recommended Earthing Practice- Poor or PME

Integrity issue of DISCOM and influence of HV
and LV earthing systems obstructs the
IE RB Ur
RE implementation-Hence neglected by most of
the consumers

6
 U1 U2

Good Result-But not recommended due to

DISCOM’s inconsistent practice of RE RB
interconnection, PME, and influence of RE, RB Ur
IE RE RB and LV installation earthing system

7
Table 5- Minimum requirements for interconnection of low-voltage and High-voltage earthing systems based on EPR limits (IEC 61936-1)
EPR Requirements

Type of Earthing System Stress Voltage

Touch voltage Fault duration Fault duration
tf ≤ 5 s tf ≥ 5 s
TT Not applicable EPR ≤ 1200 V EPR ≤ 250 V
TN EPR ≤ F x UTp d,e EPR ≤ 1200 V EPR ≤ 250 V
Distributed protective earth conductor As per TN System EPR ≤ 1200 V EPR ≤ 250 V
IT
Protective earth conductor not distributed Not applicable EPR ≤ 1200 V EPR ≤ 250 V
Notes:
a For definitions of the type of LV systems, see IEC 60364-1.
b For Telecommunication equipment, the ITU recommendations should be used.
c Limit may be increased if appropriate LV equipment is installed or EPR may be replaced by local potential differences based on
measurements or calculations.
d. If the PEN or neutral conductor of the low voltage system is connected to earth only at the HV earthing system, the value of F shall be 1.
e UTP is derived from Figure 12.
NOTE The typical value for F is 2. Higher values of F may be applied where there are additional connections of the PEN conductor to earth.
For certain soil structures, the value of F may be up to 5. Caution is necessary when this rule is applied in soils with high resistivity contrast
where the top layer has a higher resistivity. The touch voltage in this case can exceed 50 % of the EPR.
LIGHTNING ARRESTORS - SELECTION IEC 60099-5 Surge arresters –Part 5: Selection and application
recommendations

 Electrical equipments are subjected to various transient over voltage stresses due to abnormalities
within the supply system as well as from the external lightning discharges. Insulating the electrical
equipment against the transient voltages will be economically prohibitive.

 Hence there should be an optimum approach to protect the insulation of electrical equipment against
overvoltages. This is achieved by providing a surge arrestor which could bypass the transient surge
protecting the equipment. Such an approach is insulation coordination.

Typical Selection of Ur may be adopted as follows:

Ur = Kd * Um/(Sq. Rt.3*Tf) where Kd is a factor for the effectiveness of earthing and Tf is a factor for the
Tf, is 1.15oftimes
duration TOV for one second duration, 1.1 times for 10 seconds duration and 1.05 times for 100 seconds

Type of system earthing Value of Kd

Solidly earthed four wire system with 1.25 The typical calculation for a 11 Kv impedance earthed and a
multiple earthing along the distribution fault clearing time exceeding 10 seconds
Solidly earthed three wire system 1.4 =1.73*12/(1.732*1.05)= 11.41 kV
Impedance earthed system 1.73
Unearthed system Above 1.73 The nearest rating of 12 kV from the manufacturer’s
upto 2.3 brochure may be selected
Existing practice of insulating LAs earth flat from the structure Existing practice of connecting lightning arrestor in a compact SS

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 Requirements for UPS installations and
sensitive electronics devices
Separately derived supply
 Integrity of neutral.- Make before break of neutral to avoid any momentary open neutral
 Avoiding interference to the proper operation of the upstream earth leakage protective
devices
 Single point source for easy referencing
 Availing separate circuit right from the main panel so as to avoid
 noise from other circuits
 harmful voltage sag which would arise as and when a motor starts
Vs
 Providing different source of supply in the case of large data center architectures in order to
improve the overall system reliability
 An efficient local TNS earthing system – Use isolation transformer
 Economy and performance based on the sensitiveness of the loads. 11
 Electromagnetic compatibility
EMI: Electromagnetic waves at high frequencies are created by electronics devices or high-
current electrical equipments like Arc furnace, VFD drives. Lightning and Switching surges
also create EM waves. These EM waves cause interference (EMI) affecting the proper
functioning of the other devices
Conducted emission: EM waves at a frequency range upto 30MHz from a device are
propagated from its electrical circuit via the cabling branching out to another circuit
through the distribution board.
Radiated emission: EM waves at a frequency range exceeding 30MHz from a device does
not require any conductor to get propagated. Air, and parasitic capacitance are the media
for propagation.

As per Cl.3.6 of IEC/TR 61000-3-6, 2008, Electromagnetic compatibility is the ability of an equipment or system to
function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing intolerable electromagnetic disturbances
to anything in that environment.
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Circulating currents in multiple neutral earthing

 Multiple neutral earthing-Noise voltage

Equipment
Grounding grounding
electrode conductor
conductor

13
Creation of earth loop when devices interfaced through data cables are supplied from different
outlets

Common power source - no earth loop

Earth loop-
Communicat
ion cable
derives its
own zero
references
conductor
linking the
earthing
connections
of different
locations.
Dedicated earth- linked by power or interfacing leads

15
Dedicated earth- a dangerous practice
Electrical Separation Configuration for Various UPS Topologies
IEC TS 61200-203

17
Non separately derived UPS source IEEE 1100

Configuration-1

18
Separately derived UPS 3 Ph without neutral source
IEEE 1100
Configuration-2

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Non Separately derived UPS source and Separately
derived UPS output transformer source Configuration-3

Separately derived source using isolation

transformer and forming local TNS earthing system
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Insulated earth leads for devices isolated from earth (e.g.
sensors for measurements)
 Noise Voltage mitigation at supply and low frequencies-
Mitigation
 Avoiding multiple earthing of source neutral
 Single point earthing
 Avoid isolated earth electrode
 Effective and localized TNS earthing system-avoid galvanic connection-use isolation transformers
 Insulated earthing conductor (undesirable for EMC reasons)
 Form ring conductor of 75 to 150 sq mm size GI conductors buried to the ground around the building and
interconnected to the earth electrodes for lightning protection

Mandatory requirement of supplemental bonding

 Earth potential rise due to line and lightning surges for the protection of personnel.
 The frame earth of the UPS or any equipment should not be isolated.
 The body earth connections of various equipments should be interconnected to an earth bus
which in turn should be brought upto the neutral earth flat of the source and connected at a
single point of raw power source earthing.
 Noise Voltage at high frequencies
Causes:
Real and parasitic Inductive and capacitive coupling
Sources:
 Signal cables between interface devices like modem, fax, hubs, printers, routers etc
 EMI from other sources like

 VFD Drives
 Lightning discharge
 Switching surges
 ESD Enclosure
Features:
Earthing design should address the high frequency inductance effects
and travelling wave 23
 High frequency noise - Analysis
Wave Propagation where C=Speed of wave in m/s =
300000000
F=Frequency in Hz
Type of wave Velocity Consequences
Frequency in factor for 1/4 of Wave  Impedance of the conductor
Hz cable length m becomes very high for high
Power frequency 50 Hz 50 0.66 990000 frequencies
DC Resistance of a 3m long 12 swg
Switching surge 1.2/50 micro is 0.015 ohm, but the Inductive
seconds 20000 0.66 2475 reactance at 1 MHZ is 30 ohm
Lightning surge 8/20 micro  A conductor will become open
seconds 50000 0.66 990 circuited and will resonate
VFD Drive 300 kHz 300000 0.66 165 (becomes an antenna) when its
Radio frequency 100 MHz 100000000 0.66 0.495 length increases to more than
1/4th of the wave length.
 The system earthing requires strengthening of
equipotential bonding when frequency is high
 Separation
Separation by Positioning of PLC panels and sensitive
devices away from the High frequency sources like VFD
drive panels etc.
Availing power and interface circuits from the same
source of supply, wherever possible
Cable trays using GI materials offer a good EMI reduction
property. But the equipment end connections should be
in conduits.
Parallel unscreened power and Information technology
requires separation if the length exceeds 35 m;

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 Mitigation for High frequency Noise Voltages - 1
 Best solution is Fibre Optic Cable in terms of immunity from all types of noises and length as well as
speed of transmission
 Separation by Positioning of PLC panels and sensitive devices away from the VFD drive panels
 Availing power and interface circuits from the same source of supply, wherever possible
 Cable trays using GI materials offer a good EMI reduction property. But the equipment end connections
should be in conduits.
 Parallel unscreened power and Information technology requires separation if the length exceeds 35 m;

 Separation may be achieved by metallic separation or 30 mm of

air separation

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 NEC and Manufacturer’s Recommendation for
mitigation of EMI
 EMC of the medical equipment should be observed EMI Sources Separating
as per recommended by the manufacturer distance
e.g. As per the manufacturer’s declaration for an
ultrasound system a separating distance of >2 m is Transformer of the 6m
necessary from any mobile phone, Bluetooth, LAN electrical power
device, or portable transmitter that has maximum installation (for
radiated power of 1 W and an operating frequency of example of the IT
156 MHz. system), motors with
ANNEX C of NEC is informative only as furnished output exceeding 3 kW.
below:
 The separation distance will be as per the following Conductor Cross- 3m
table so that the magnetic induction B at 50 Hz at section
the patient position does not exceed the values of 10 mm2 to 70 mm2
0.1 μT for electromyogram (EMG), 0.2 μT for
electro encephalo gram (EEG) and 0.4 μT for 95 mm2 to 185 mm2 6m
electrocardiogram (ECG).
> 185 mm2 9m
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Mitigation for High frequency Noise Voltages - 2
Shielding
 For ESD mitigation use paramagnetic sheath, say, Aluminium or copper
instead of GI; Paramagnetic materials exhibit a better performance at RF
frequencies than magnetic materials (contrary to the belief) in view of
an increase in permeability of magnetic materials at high RF. Select
materials according to the frequency of interest to be attenuated.
 Shielding to absorb or reflect EMI and radio frequencies is achieved
o By means of a metallic cover in the form of armour/screen of cable
o metallic enclosure for the equipment
o conductive paint on the inner surface/walls of enclosure provided for
the equipment.
 Earthing of shielding should be done at both or even at multiple locations
, if feasible, for enabling attenuation of undesirable signals

 Signal reference grounding

 Signal reference grounding (SRG)
Absence of isolation transformer, optical fibre interface connection Or Physically
separated devices with electrical and signal cabling interconnections requires a
special earthing methodology and it is achieved by Signal Reference Plane.
SRG offers low impedance path for the RF current; restricts the RF signal between
source and SRP
 Signal reference plane (SRP)
 with its entire perimeter base being welded or braced to the structure which is
impracticable OR
 Flat foil straps (with higher width to length ratio) without folding to connect
each device to the plane; Avail strap connections from the opposing corners of
the equipment
 Multiple flat straps from equipment to SRP to minimize inductance in parallel
 Straps of minimum lengths suitable for the frequency under consideration
 Straps of different lengths for multiple frequencies
 Spacing between the straps should be not less than the length of the longest
strap
Signal Reference Grid Arrangement
 IEC TS 61200-203

Figure 8 : Circuit-breakers are subjected to a variety of situations

Cl. 4.5.4.4.7 of IS 732

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 Conclusion
 Avoid dedicated earth and multiple earthing of source neutral for mitigating
low frequencies
 Avoid galvanic connection by providing Isolation Transformers wherever
required for localizing effective TNS earthing arrangement for the integrity of
neutral
 Use insulated earthing conductor as functional earthing
 Selection of UPS for limiting harmonics emission and using filters for avoiding
Triplen Harmonics
 Identify situations for Power frequency and High frequency sources whether
through interfacing or from external sources
 Observe Signal reference plane technique for High Frequencies between
devices within small and closer locations
 Screening, Separation, surge diversion and low-frequency blocking techniques
for EMI from high frequency radiating sources
 Adhere to the mandatory equipotential bonding for the protection of personnel
and property