EARTHING

The term ‘earthing’ means connecting of the non-current carrying

parts of the electrical equipment or the neutral point of the supply
system to the general mass of earth in such a manner that at all
times an immediate discharge of electrical energy takes place
without danger.
 Objectives of earthing
1. For the safety of personnel from the electric shock.
2. For the safety of equipment and personnel against lightning
and voltage surges.
3. For providing the ground connections for grounded neutral
systems.
4. Discharging and de-energizing feeders or equipments before
proceeding for maintenance.

Types of earthing
Earthing is classified into two types:
A. System (Neutral ) earthing
B. Equipment earthing
 System (Neutral) Earthing
• Intentional connection of neutral points of star connected 3 phase
windings of generators, transformers, motors to ground is called
system earthing.
• System earthing ensures the system security and protection.

Importance of Neutral Earthing

1. Reduced magnitude of transient over voltages.
2. Simplified ground fault location
3. Improved system and equipment fault protection
4. Greater safety for personnel
5. Improved lightning protection
6. Reduction in frequency of faults.
 Equipment Earthing
 Intentional connection of non-current carrying metallic parts of
electrical equipments to ground is called equipment earthing.
 Sometimes called safety earthing (or body earthing), ensures
personnel safety and protects against lightning.

Components must be earthed:

1. the frames, tanks and enclosures of electric machines,
transformers, equipments.
2. the operating mechanism of switchgear.
3. frame work of switch boards, control panels.
4. metal structures of indoor/outdoor substations, cable sheaths,
metal conduits, etc.
 Method of Earthing
 Most popular earthing methods are:
1. Wire or strip earthing
2. Rod earthing
3. Pipe earthing
4. Plate earthing
5. Chemical earthing (modern earthing)
 Strip Earthing
• Strip electrodes of cross section not
less than 25 mm x 1.6 mm if of copper
and 25 mm x 4 mm if of galvanized
iron or steel are buried in horizontal
trenches of min depth of 0.5m.
• If round conductors are used their
cross sectional area shall not be
smaller than 3 mm2 if of copper and 6
mm2 if of galvanized iron or steel.
• The length of buried conductor shall be sufficient to give the
required earth resistance. It shall however be not less than 15 m.
• This type of earthing is used at places which have rocky soil earth
bed because at such places excavation work of bed earthing is
difficult.
 Rod Earthing
• 12.5 mm dia. solid rods of
copper or 16 mm dia. solid rods
of galvanized iron or steel or
hollow section 25 mm GI pipes
of length not less than 2.5 m are
driven vertically into the earth.
• This system of earthing is
suitable for areas which are
sandy in character.
Pipe Earthing
• Usually the pipe used for this purpose is of dia. 40 mm and 2.5
meters in length for ordinary soil or of greater length in case
of dry and rocky soil.
• The pipe is placed at a depth of 3.75 m (minimum). The pipe
at the bottom is surrounded by broken pieces charcoal for a
distance of about 15 cm around the pipe.
• Alternate layers of charcoal and salt are used to decrease the
earth resistance.
• Another pipe of 19 mm diameter and minimum length of 1.25
meters is connected at the top of GI pipe through reducing
socket.
• A cement concrete work at the top of 19 mm dia. pipe is done
for water arrangements in dry season. 3 – 4 buckets of water
are put through the funnel connected to 19 mm diameter
pipe.
• The earth wire (GI wire, GI strip) is carried in a GI pipe of
diameter 12 mm at a depth of about 60 cm from the ground.
Plate Earthing
• An earthing plate either of copper of dimensions 60 cm x 60 cm x
3 mm or of galvanized iron of dimensions 60 cm x 60 cm x 6 mm is
buried into the ground at about 3 m depth from ground level.
• The earth plate is embedded in alternate layers of coke and salt
for a minimum thickness of 15 cm.
• Another pipe of 19 mm diameter and minimum length of 1.25
meters is placed at the top of earth plate.
• The earth wire (GI wire for GI plate and copper wire for copper
plate) is bolted to an earth plate with the help of bolt, nut and
washer.
• The earth wire is carried in a GI pipe of diameter 12 mm at a
depth of about 60 cm from the ground.
• A cement concrete work at the top of 19 mm dia. pipe is done for
water arrangements in dry season. 3 – 4 buckets of water are put
through the funnel connected to 19 mm diameter pipe.
 Chemical Earthing
 Chemical earthing is an earthing in which
we use chemical powder instead of salt
and coal.
 Two types of powders are used in
chemical earthing. One is carbon powder
and other is Bentonite powder. Carbon
powder is black and Bentonite is brown in
color. Earthing with carbon powder is
done in normal place while with
bentonite powder is used in dry place.
 It can be used anywhere but specially it is
used in mountainous region.
 Substation Earthing
• The earthing system in high voltage sub-stations consists of a
number of interconnected bare conductors buried horizontally at a
depth of about 0.5m. Such a system, known as earthing grid or mat,
provides common earth for all devices and metallic structures in the
substation. The mat or grid is connected to several earth electrodes
which are vertically grounded and each about 3m long.
•The materials for earthing
conductor should have high
conductivity and low
underground corrosion. Copper,
steel & aluminum are used for
earthing systems.
•The substation earthing should
have low earth resistance, low
touch potential and low step
potential.
 Step potential and touch potential
• Step potential is the voltage between the feet of a person
standing on the floor of the substation.
• Touch potential is the voltage between the fingers of raised
hand touching the faulted structure and the feet of the
person standing on substation floor.
 Measurement of soil resistivity
Four Spikes Method
• Four spikes are arranged into the soil as shown in the figure.
• A known current is passed between electrodes C1 and C2 and V is
measured across P1 and P2.

Soil resistivity is given by:

 Overvoltage
 The voltage waves having magnitude more than its normal value
and which remains for a very short duration are called overvoltage
surges or transient overvoltage. For any electrical equipment, its
insulation requirements are decided by these transient
overvoltage.
 The overvoltage in the system occurs due to various reasons such
as lightning surges, switching surges, faults and travelling waves.
There is high rate of rise and high peak value in transient
overvoltage which is dangerous for the insulation and hence
protection is required against these overvoltage.
 Causes of overvoltage
Internal causes of over-voltage:
 Switching operation on unloaded line
 Sudden opening of loaded line
 Insulation failure
 Arcing ground
 Resonance

External causes of over-voltage:

 Lightning
 Lightning
• In 1745, Scientist Benjamin Franklin verified that lightning stroke
is because of the discharge of electricity, before it was considered
as “Act of God”.
• Lightning is the huge spark of electrical discharges in the clouds,
within the same clouds, and between clouds and earth. Most
lightning terminate on grounds and results serious hazards.
Charges are accumulated in clouds during thunder-storms.
Lightning discharge requires the puncture of air between cloud
and earth. When potential gradient exceeds critical breakdown
value, air surroundings gets ionized and hence lightning stroke
occurs.
• There are two main ways in which lightning hits a line or power
system:
1. Direct Stroke
2. Indirect Stroke
 Overvoltage Protection
1. Overhead earth wire:
Earth wire is provided above the
phase conductor across the line and
grounded at every tower.
It shield the line conductor from direct
stroke.

The angle made by straight line joining overhead earth wire and
line conductor with vertical plane is known as Shielding Angle (or
angle of protection) and denoted by θ.
For proper protection of the line conductors from lightning
strokes, the shielding angle should be within 30°.
The ground wire shields the phase or line conductors by attracting
itself the lightning strokes creating these conductors within zone of
protection
2. Lightning Arrestors:
 The most common device used for protection of the power
system against the high voltage surge is surge-diverter which
is connected between the line and earth, and diverts the
incoming high voltage wave to earth. Such a diverter is called
lightning arrestor.
 As the overvoltage is incident by any means on the protective
device, a part of energy content in the overvoltage is charged
to the ground through protective device, when a high voltage
wave reaches the surge diverter, it sparks over and provides a
conducting path of relatively low impedance between the line
and earth, so that resulting current flows to the earth. These
prevent the flow of the normal power or signal currents to
ground, but provide a path over which high-voltage lightning
current flows, bypassing the connected equipment. Their
purpose is to limit the rise in voltage when a communications
or power line is struck by lightning or is near to a lightning
strike.
 Classification of lightning arrestors
Lightning arrestors can be classified as:
1. Rod Gap Lightning Arrestor
2. Horn Gap Lightning Arrestor
3. Surge Absorber
1. Rod Gap Lightning Arrestor
 A rod gap arrestor is very simple
type of diverter and consists of two
1.5 cm diameter rods, which bent
at right angles with the gap. One
rod is connected to line circuit and
other is connected to the ground.
 The distance between gap and
insulator must not be less than l/3
of the rod gap length (l), in order to
protect the insulator from the arc.
• Under normal operating condition, the gap remains non
conducting. On the occurrence of high surge voltage on the
line, the gap sparks over the surge current conducted to
earth. The rod gap arrestor has the advantage of low cost and
easy adjustment on site.
However, it has limitations as listed below:
• The rods may melt or get damaged due to excessive heat
produced by arc,
• The climate condition like rain, humidity, temperature, etc
affects the performance.
 The rod gap depends upon the operating voltage of the
system.
System Voltage (KV) Rod Gap in mm
33 225
66 350
132 650
275 1230
 2. Horn Gap Lightning Arrester
 It consists of two horn- shaped pieces of
metal separated by a small air gap and
connected in shunt between each conductor
and earth.

 The distance between the two electrodes is

such that the normal voltage between the
line and earth is insufficient to jump the gap,
but abnormally high voltages will break
down the gap and so find a path to earth.

 The arc thus formed by reason of heated air

and electromagnetic action will rise up the
horn and extinguish itself, thus preventing a
follow on arc. The time taken for complete
operation is usually from 3 to 5 seconds.
• The resistance helps in limiting the flow of current; the coil is
designed that it offers small reactance at normal frequency.
On the occurrence of over-voltage, spark-over takes place
across the small gap.
 3. Surge Absorber:

A surge absorber is a protective device which reduces the

steepness of the wave front of a surge by absorbing surge energy.
Although, both surge diverter and absorber eliminate the surge at
the manner in which work done is different in two devices. The
surge diverter diverts surge to earth, but the absorber absorbs the
surge energy.
 Neutral Earthing
• For generation, transmission, distribution and utilization of 3-
phase ac power, the neutral or star point is connected to low
resistance ground, such a connection is called neutral earthing
or neutral grounding.
• In early power systems, ungrounded systems were often
popular. Ungrounded systems have advantage of negligible
ground fault current but drawback of arcing grounds.
• Modern power systems are with grounded neutrals and
facilitate supply even at the single line to ground fault.
• Three phase system can be operated in:
A. Isolated (Unearthed) Neutral System
B. Grounded (Earthed) Neutral System
A. Isolated Neutral System
Disadvantages:
1. The potential of the faulty phase becomes equal to ground
potential. However, the voltages of the two remaining
healthy phases rise from their normal phase voltages to full
line value.
2. The capacitive current in the two healthy phases increases to
√3 times the normal value.
3. The capacitive fault current IF becomes 3 times the normal
per phase capacitive current.
4. The capacitive fault current IF flows into earth. Experience
shows that IF in excess of 4 A is sufficient to maintain an arc
in the ionized path of the fault. If this current is once
maintained it may exist even after the earth fault is cleared.
This phenomenon of persistent arc is called arcing ground.
 B. Grounded Neutral System
 The process of connecting neutral point of 3 phase system to
earth either directly or through some circuit element (resistance,
reactance etc.) is called neutral grounding. Neutral grounding
provides protection to personnel and equipment.
 Advantages:
• Voltages of the healthy phases do not exceed line to ground
voltages i.e. they remain nearly constant.
• The high voltages due to arcing grounds are eliminated.
• The over voltages due to lightning are discharged to earth.
• It provides greater safety to personnel and equipment.
 Neutral Grounding can be broadly classified into following
categories:
• Solid Grounding
• Resistance Grounding
• Reactance Grounding
• Peterson coil Grounding
 Effectively Grounded System
 According to IEEE definition, a system or a portion of a system can
be said to be effectively grounded when for all points on the
system or specified portion thereof, the ratio of zero sequence
reactance to positive sequence reactance is not greater than three
and the ratio of zero sequence resistance to positive sequence
resistance is not greater than one for any condition of operation
and for any amount of generator capacity.
 The effective grounded systems are less expensive than any other
type of grounding for any operating voltage because for such a
system in the event of a single line to ground fault, the maximum
voltage of healthy phase does not exceed 80% of line-to –line
voltage while for all other grounded system the voltage of healthy
phases rises to about 100% line-to-line voltage.
 Solid Grounding
• When the neutral point of a 3 phase
system (generator, transformer etc.)
is directly connected to the earth
through a wire of negligible
resistance and reactance it is called
solid grounding. Fig: Solid Grounding
 Advantages:
1. Since fault current eliminates the effect of the capacitive currents, chances of
occurrence of arcing grounds and over voltages are eliminated up to a greater
extent.
2. The flow of heavy fault current permits the use of discriminative protective
gear.
3. When a fault to earth occurs on any phase of the system, the voltage to earth
of the faulty phase becomes zero. But, the healthy phase remains at their
normal phase voltage. Therefore, equipment should be insulated for phase
voltage only.
 Disadvantages:
1. Increased fault current results in greater influence on neighboring
communication circuits.
2. Since the fault has to be cleared by the circuit breakers, heavy earth fault
currents may result in burning of contacts of CB.

 Applications:
This system is used on the networks where normal impedance is quite large.
Experience shows that combined impedance of the apparatus, circuit and
ground return path in systems operating at voltages below 3.3 kV and those
operating at voltages exceeding 33 kV is sufficiently large so as to limit the
value of fault current to a safe value.
 Resistance Grounding
 When the neutral point of a 3 phase system
(generator, transformer etc.) is connected to
earth through a resistor it is called resistance
grounding.

When it becomes necessary to limit the earth fault current, resistance

earthing is used. In this type of neutral earthing, a resistor is inserted between
the neutral and earth to limit the current to a safe value.

The value of resistance is so designed that, the ground fault current does not
exceed the 3-phase short circuit current. Grounding resistors are normally
designed to carry their rated current for short period, usually 30 seconds.

 Resistors are of normally two types:

a) Metallic Resistors: Value will not change with time, less maintenance,
not purely resistive. Used for voltage greater than 6.6 KV.
b) Liquid Resistors: Greater maintenance, purely resistive. Used for voltage
below 6.6 KV.
 vNB

Applications:
This system is usually employed for the systems operating on
voltages exceeding 3.3 kV but not exceeding 33 kV.
 Advantages:
1. It permits the use of discriminative protective gear.
2. It minimizes the hazards of arcing ground.
3. Fault current (If) is less than effective grounding and hence less
interference on neighboring communication circuits.
 Disadvantages:
1. Voltage of healthy phases will become greater than 80% of line
voltage. Therefore, insulation increases, rating of arrestors
increases and ultimately cost increases.
2. It is costlier than solidly grounded system.
3. There is enormous energy loss in Resistor for dissipation of fault
energy.
 Reactance grounding
 Reactance grounding means
grounding through impedance
which is highly inductive. A
reactance is connected between
the earth and the neutral point.

Applications:
Reactance grounding may be used for grounding the neutral of
circuits where high charging currents are involved such as
transmission lines, underground cables etc. For networks where
capacitance is relatively low, resistance grounding is preferred.
 Arc Suppression grounding or Peterson
coil grounding or Resonance grounding
 Peterson coil is an iron core reactor connected between
transformer neutral and ground.
 It is used for limiting the capacitance earth fault current which is
flowing when the line ground fault occurs in the line.
 The coil is provided with the tapping so that it can be adjusted
with the capacitance of the system. The reactance is selected so
that the current through the reactor is equal to the small line
charging current which would flow into the line-to-ground fault.
vNB
 Numerical Example
1. Determine the value of reactance to be connected in the
neutral connection to neutralize the capacitance current, of an
overhead line to ground capacitance of each line equal to 0.015
μF. Frequency = 50 HZ
Solution:
 2. A 33 kV, 3 phase 50 HZ OH line 50 km long has a
capacitance to earth line equal to 0.01 μF per km. Determine
the inductance and kVA rating of the arc suppression coil.
Solution:
 3. Calculate the reactance of a coil suitable for a 33 kV, 50 HZ, 3
phase transmission system of which the capacitance to earth of
each conductor is 4.5 μF.
Solution:
 IOE Questions
 Why the neutral in a power system is grounded? What are the
methods of grounding a neutral? Explain one of them in detail.
[2070 Bhadra, 2073 Magh]
 Describe the protection of stations and sub-stations against direct
lighting strokes. [2078 Chaitra]
 Explain the methods of overvoltage protection of electrical
equipment. [2077 Chaitra]
 A 90 km long 66 KV, 50Hz, 3 phase overhead line has capacitance
to earth equal to 0.02 micro Farad per km. What should be the
inductance and KVA rating of the arc suppression coil. [2077
Chaitra]
 What are the causes of over voltages on power system? List the
merits and demerits of solid grounding. [2076 Bhadra]
 Calculate the inductance and KVA rating of the arc suppression coil
of a 50 Km long 33 KV, 50 Hz, 3 phase overhead transmission
system having line to earth capacitance of each phase equal to
0.0125 microfarad. [2076 Bhadra]
 A 33 KV, 3 phase, 50 Hz, overhead line 60 Km long has a
capacitance to ground of each line equal to 0.015 microfarad per
km. Determine the inductance and KVA rating of the Peterson coil.
[2075 Bhadra, 2075 Baisakh, 2074 Bhadra, 2073 Magh]
 What are the factors affecting soil resistivity? How can we reduce
earth resistance? [2075 Bhadra]
 What is neutral Earthing? Briefly discuss different types of neutral
Earthing. [2074 Bhadra]
 An alternator rated at 10 KV protected by the balanced circulating
current system has its neutral grounded through a resistance of 10
ohms. The protective relay is set to operate when there is out of
balance current of 1.8 A in the pilot wires, which are connected to
the secondary windings of 1000/5 ratio current transformers.
Determine: a. the percentage winding which remain unprotected
b. the minimum value of earthing resistance required to protect
80% of the winding.[2073 Bhadra]
 A transmission line has a capacitance of 0.1 microfarad per phase.
Determine the inductance of Peterson coil to neutralize the effect
of capacitance of a. complete length b. 90 % length of the line
f=50Hz.
 What is chemical earthing? Writhe the factors affecting the earth
resistance. [2072 Magh]
 The neutral point of a three-phase 20 MVA, 11 KV alternator is
earthed through a resistance of 5 ohm, the relay is set to operate
when there is an out of balance current of 1.5 A. The CTs hence a
ratio 1000/5. What percentage of winding is protected against an
earth fault and what should be the minimum value of earthing
resistance to protect 90% of the winding. [2072 Ashwin]
 A 13.8 KV, 125 MVA, star-connected alternator has a synchronous
has a synchronous reactance of 1.4 per unit per phase and
negligible resistance. It is protected by a Merz-Price balanced
current system which operated when out of balance current
exceeds 10% of the full load current. If the neutral point is earthed
though a resistance of 2 ohm, determine what proportion of
winding is protected against earth fault. [2071 Magh]
 Define causes of overvoltage and explain methods of overvoltage
protection of electrical equipment. [2071 Bhadra]
 A 5000 KVA, 6600 V, star- connected alternator has a synchronous
reactance of 2 ohm per phase and 0.5 ohm resistance. It is
protected by Merz price balanced current system which operates
when out of balance current exceeds 30% of load current.
Determine what proportion of a alternator winding is unprotected
if the star is earthed through a resistance of 6.5 ohm. [2070 Magh]