ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION DESIGN

Module 3: Earthing Systems

Dr. Kumari Swati

Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology Rourkela
India
 Earthing
• Earthing means connections of the non-current carrying parts of electrical
apparatus, such as metallic framework, metallic covering of cables, earth terminal
of socket outlet, stay wires etc., to the general mass of the earth in such a manner
that at all times an immediate discharge of electrical energy takes place without
danger.

• Earthing is provided to
– Ensure that no current carrying conductor rises to a potential with respect to
general mass of earth than its designated insulation.
– To avoid electric shock to the human beings, and
– To avoid risk of fire due to earth leakage current through unwanted path.

• Importance of Earthing in Electrical Installations

– If a metallic part of an electric appliance comes into contact with a live wire
(due to insulation failure or other reasons), the metal gets charged.
– Being a good conductor, the metal accumulates static charge.
– Touching this charged metal can result in a severe electric shock.
• Role of Earthing in Electrical Safety
– If metallic parts of appliances are earthed, any accumulated charge is safely
transferred to the earth.
– This happens immediately when the metal comes into contact with a live wire
or if insulation fails.
– As the discharge occurs, the current may exceed the safe limit.
– The fuse in the circuit blows off, cutting off the power supply.
– This prevents electric shock and minimizes fire hazards.

• Thus, Earthing ensures the safety of electrical equipment and human lives.
• A low-resistance earthing wire provides the least resistance path for the leakage of
fault current.
 Earthing Conductor
• High Conductivity Material
– Made of high-conductivity copper to ensure efficient grounding.
– Available in various forms: stranded, flat strip, circular, or rectangular bar.
• Protection Against Mechanical Injury
– Must be securely placed and fixed to avoid accidental damage or cuts.
– Fixed using clamps, clips, saddles, staples, or other approved methods that do not
harm the conductor.
• Corrosion Protection
– Bare conductors are protected to prevent corrosion.
– Alternative materials such as galvanized solid iron, steel wire, or rod may be used,
provided they meet the minimum conductivity of copper earthing conductors.
• Aerial Earthing Conductors
– Must be clearly identified and supported on suitable insulators.
– Protected against mechanical damage when buried underground.
• Jointing Methods for Reliability
– For conductors up to 7/1.60 mm: Joints are made using soldering, brazing, or welding.
– For larger main earthing conductors: Mechanical clamping is used for secure
connections.
 IS specification for Earthing
1. Location of the Earthing Electrode: should be placed at least 1.5 meters away from the building
being earthed
2. Size of Earth Continuity Conductor/ Earth Wire: The conductor by means of which the metal
body of an equipment is connected to earth is known as earth continuity conductor.
– Should not be less than 2.9𝑚𝑚2 or half the cross section of the line conductor
3. Resistance of Earth : General Rule – lower the value of earth resistance better it is.
– Maximum permissible earth resistance of Earth continuity inside an installation i.e. from
earth plate to any point in the installation = 1Ω
4. Material of Earth Wire: should be of the same material as the earth electrode
5. Protection Against Wear and Tear: earth wire should pass through a G.I. pipe of 13 mm
diameter for at least 30 cm length above and below the ground surface to the earth electrode
6. Earthing wire connections:
– The earth wire connected to an earth electrode does not need to run throughout the
entire wiring system.
– Earth wires from various sub-circuits should be terminated and looped firmly at the main
board.
– From the main board, the main earth wire is then connected to the earth electrode.
7. Effective Earthing Material: a mixture of loose earth, coal, and salt should be filled around the
earth electrode
8. Earthing electrode should be placed in vertical position – to make contact with all the different
earth layers
 Points to be Earthed
• Earth pin of 3-pin lighting and power sockets should be efficiently and permanently
earthed
• All metal casing containing or protecting electric supply lines or apparatus (e.g. metal
sheath, conduits, iron-clad switches, fuse boards) should be earthed
• Metal casing of portable apparatus which is touched frequently (e.g. heater,
refrigerator, electric drills, soldering iron etc.) should be connected to earth.
• Frames of generators, stationary motors, and metallic parts (not intended as
conductors) of transformers or other apparatus used for controlling energy must be
earthed with two separate and distinct connections to the earth
• Neutral conductor in a 3-phase 4-wire system and Middle conductor of 2-phase 3 wire
system should be earthed at generating station and substation. It may also be earthed
along the distribution system or service line apart from consumer’s earthing.
• The middle conductor should be earthed at the generating station for a DC 3-wire
system
• Transmission line metallic towers and supports should be earthed. The metalwork
should be connected to an effective earthing device at each individual support.
• Stay wires provided for overhead lines should be connected to the earth by connecting
at least one strand to earth wire
Factors influencing earth resistance
• Earth resistance should be low to allow sufficient fault current for operating
protective relays or blowing fuses.
• Earth resistance varies with weather conditions due to changes in soil moisture
content.
– It is highest during dry seasons when soil moisture is low.
• If earth resistance exceeds permissible limits, fault current may not reach a
sufficient value to operate protective devices and dangerous conditions may arise.

• The resistance of earth system depends on following factors:

i. Condition of soil
ii. Temperature of soil
iii. Moisture content of soil
iv. Size and spacing of earth electrodes
v. Depth at which electrode is embedded
vi. Material of the conductor
vii. Quality of coal, dust and charcoal in the earth electrode pit
 Methods of reducing earth resistance
of the system
1. Improve Electrode Installation:
– Dig around the earth electrode to a depth of 1.5 – 2 meters.
– Clean earth plate/pipe to remove rust.
– Fill the pit with moisture charcoal soaked in salt solution (moisture retaining
substances)
2. Seasonal Maintenance:
i. In summer, pour fresh salt water to maintain low resistance.
ii. Use copper sulphate solution for copper plate earthing.
3. Additional Measures:
i. Increase earth plate area (has limitation)
ii. Increase pit depth (has limitation)
iii. Use multiple electrodes in parallel for
• reduced resistance
• shared fault current
• suitable only where greater surface area of a free soil is available for
earthing
• electrodes should be spaced in parallel so as not to overlap earthing
region covered by the individual electrodes.
 Methods of Earthing
PIPE EARTHING
• Material: Galvanized steel perforated pipe
• Dimensions of pipe: Size depends upon the current to be carried and type of soil
– Ordinary soil: 40 mm diameter and 2:75 m length
– Dry/rocky soil: Longer pipes, typically up to 4:75 m length is used
• Installation:
– Pipe is placed vertically in wet soil
– Depth at which pipe must be buried depends on soil moisture; greater depth is required for dry soil
– Pipe is placed at a depth of 3.75m (minimum)
– Pipe at the bottom is surrounded by broken pieces of charcoal and salt to increase the effective
area of earth and decrease earth resistance.
– Another pipe of 19mm diameter and minimum length of 1.25 is connected at top od GI pipe
– Cement concrete work done to keep water arrangement accessible.
• Earth wire:
– Either GI wire or strip of sufficient cross section to carry fault current safely
– Carried in a GI pipe of diameter 12mm at a depth of about 60cm from ground.
– Care to be taken that earth wire is protected from mechanical injury when transferred from one pipe
to another.
• Applications:
– Most common and best system of earthing as compared to other systems suitable for same earth
and moisture conditions.
– Commonly used in residential and commercial buildings due to its cost-effectiveness and ease of
installation
 Materials required for GI pipe
earthing:

• 38mm diameter GI pipe

• 19mm diameter GI pipe for
watering
• 13mm diameter GI pipe
• GI wire 6 SWG for earth wire
• GI lugs
• 10mm diameter 32 mm long
GI bolts and nuts
• 16mm diameter 40 mm long
GI bolts and washers
• 13mm diameter GI bends
• 30 cm square cast iron frame
• 30 cm square cast iron cover
• Funnel with wire mesh
• Charcoal
• Common salt
• Cement concrete

Fig. Typical illustration of pipe earth electrode

PLATE EARTHING
• Material:
– Copper plate: 60 cm x 60 cm x 3 mm
– GI plate: 60 cm x 60 cm x 6 mm
• Installation:
– Plate is buried with its face vertical in the earth pit
– Depth: At least 3 m from ground level
– Earth plate is embedded in alternate layers of charcoal and salt for a minimum
thickness of 15cm.
• Earth wire:
– GI wire for GI plate earthing and copper wire for copper plate earthing
– Earth wire is securely bolted to an earth plate
– A small masonry brick wall enclosed with a cast iron cover on top is provided
• For identification, periodic inspection and testing
• Moisture Maintenance
– Water is added around the plate or coal and lime mixture is used to retain moisture
• Applications:
– This is another common system of earthing
– Used in industries and substations where high fault currents need to be safely
dissipated
– Copper plate and copper wire are usually not employed for grounding purposes
because of their higher cost
Fig. Typical illustration of plate earth electrode
 General Method of Electrical Earthing
Installation
• A 5 × 5 𝑓𝑡 (1.5 × 1.5 𝑚) pit is dug about 20 − 30𝑓𝑡 (6 − 9 𝑚) deep

• A vertical copper plate (60𝑐𝑚 × 60𝑐𝑚 × 3𝑚𝑚) is buried in the pit

• Earth leads are secured with nut bolts at two points on the plate

• Grease is applied to protect joints from corrosion

• Wires are collected in a metallic pipe, placed 30 cm above the ground

• A 30 cm charcoal and lime layer is added around the plate for moisture

• Machines/ installations are earthed at two points using thimbles and nut bolts

• Earth continuity is tested and connected tightly to the earth lead

• The system is tested with an earth tester, resistance must be ≤ 10Ω.

• The pit is filled with soil, pipes are left open, and water is added periodically
 Effects of Electric Current on Human
Body
For AC current of power frequency
1𝑚𝐴 Threshold of perception of electric shock
≥ 6𝑚𝐴 Called “Let go current”
(women) Leads to muscular contractions
≥ 9𝑚𝐴 A person can still release a conductor using muscles directly stimulated by the
(men)
current.
6 – 100𝑚𝐴 Person loses his ability to control his own muscle action, unable to release his grip
on electrical conductor
Painful and hard to bear, can cause physical injury
Hear and respiratory function usually continue because of uniform spread of current
through the trunk of body
“Hold on type”- accident caused by current in range (20-100mA)
≥ 100𝑚𝐴 Likelihood of puling the heart into ventricular fibrillation – serious cardiac
emergency (rhythmic action of heart ceases, pumping action stops, and pulse
disappears)
Proves fatal unless corrected within 1-2 minutes
≥ 6𝐴 Danger of temporary respiratory paralysis and also of serious burns
Is shock duration is of only a very few seconds, there is possibility of heart reverting
to the normal rhythmic action.
Protection of building against Lightning
• Lightning characteristics:
– Voltage in 106 𝑉, current in 106 A, rise time in 1.5𝜇𝑆, high energy associated
• When lightning strikes a building, lightning current will divide to follow every conductive
path to ground, and even the divided current can cause damage.
• Secondary “side flashes” can be enough to ignite a fire, blow apart brick, stone, or
concrete, or injure occupants within the structure or building.
• A lightning protection system is designed to protect a structure from damage due to
lightning strikes by intercepting such strikes and safely passing their extremely high
voltage currents to ground.
• It is designed to provide a low impedance path to ground for potential strikes. Its main
components are
– air terminals (Lightning rods or strike termination devices)
• typically arranged at or along the upper points of a roof structure
– bonding conductors (Down conductors or downleads)
• air terminals are electrically bonded together by bonding conductors
• Must have low resistance and low self-inductance
– ground electrodes (earth rods, plates, or mesh)
• Bonding conductors are connected by the most direct route to one or more grounding or earth
terminals.
How it works:
• A lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod or metallic object mounted on
the top of a building, electrically bonded using a wire or electrical conductor to
interface with ground or “earth” through an electrode.
• If lightning targets the building it will preferably strike the rod and be conducted
to ground through the wire, instead of passing through the building where it could
start a fire or cause electrocution.
 Measurement of Earth Resistance
• Earth resistance – resistance between the earthing
plate and the surrounding ground
– of utmost importance in distribution system
• This measurement is done by potential fall method.
• Resistance area of an earth electrode is the area of soil
around the electrode within which a voltage gradient
measureable with commercial instruments exist.
• As per the figure:
– E : Earth electrode
– A : Auxiliary electrode, placed such that the two
resistance areas do not overlap.
– B- secondary auxiliary electrode placed half way
between E and A.
Working:
• An alternating current of steady value is passed
through the earth path from E to A and voltage drop Fig. Schematic diagram for measurement of
earth resistance
between E and B is measured.
• B is moved to B1 and B2 to ensure resistance areas do 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑬 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩 𝑽
not overlap, and mean value of 𝑅𝑒 is taken. 𝑹𝒆 = =
𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝑰
Numerical:
• If the wiring in a building consist of 20 points of 60 W lamps and 4 fans of 100 W each,
what would be the permissible insulation to earth for a 240 V system of supply? It is to
be noted that as per IE rule No. 48, limiting volume of leakage current in an electrical
1
installation should not exceed 5000 of the maximum supply current.
Solution:
𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑉 = 240 𝑉
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑, 𝑃 = 20 × 60 + 4 × 100 = 1600 𝑊

𝑃 1600
𝐹𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐼 = = = 6.667 𝐴
𝑉 240
As per IE rule no. 48,

𝐼
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 = = 0.00133 𝐴
5000
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ 240

= = = 0.18 𝑀Ω
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 0.00133