Earthing
The process of connecting the metallic frame (i.e., non- current
carrying part) of electrical equipment or some electrical part of
the system (e.g., neutral point in a star-connected system, one
conductor of the secondary of a transformer, etc.) to the earth
(i.e., soil) is called grounding or Earthing.
The potential of the earth is to be considered zero for all
practical purposes.
Earthing is to connect any electrical equipment to earth with a
very low resistance wire, making it to attain earth’s potential,
This ensures safe discharge of electrical energy due to failure of
the insulation line meeting the casing, etc.
Earthing brings the potential of the body of the equipment to
zero i.e., to the earth’s potential, thus protecting the operating
personnel against electrical shock.
Necessity of Earthing:
The requirement for provision of earthing can be listed as
follows :
(1) To protect the operating personnel from the danger of shock.
(2) To maintain the line voltage constant, under unbalanced load
condition.
(3) To avoid risk of fire due to earth leakage current through
unwanted path.
(4) Protection of the equipment.
(5) Protection of large buildings and all machines fed from
overhead lines against lighting.
Methods of Earthing:
The various methods of earthing in common use are
(i) Plate earthing
(ii) Pipe earthing
(iii) Rod earthing
(iv) Strip or wire earthing
(i) Plate earthing:
In this method either a copper plate of 60cm × 60cm ×3.18
or GI plate of 60cm × 60cm × 6.35 is used for earthing.
The plate is buried into the ground not less than 3m from
the ground level.
The earth plate is embedded in alternate layers of coal and
salt for a thickness of 15cm as shown in figure below
Figure: Plate earthing
In addition, water is poured for keeping the earth’s
electrode resistance value below a maximum of 5Ω. The
earth wire is securely bolted to the earth plate.
A cement masonry chamber is built with a cast iron cover
for easy regular maintenance
(ii) Pipe earthing:
Earth electrode made of a GI (galvanized iron)
pipe of 38mm in diameter and length of 2m
(depending on the current) with 12mm holes on
the surface is placed upright at a depth of 4.75cm
in a permanently wet ground.
To keep the value of the earth resistance at the
desired level, the area (15 cm ) surrounding the
GI pipe is filled with a mixture of salt and coal.
The efficiency of the earthing system is
improved by pouring water through the funnel
periodically.
The GI earth wires of sufficient cross-sectional
area are run through a 12.7mm diameter pipe (at
60cm below) from the 19mm diameter pipe and
secured tightly at the top as shown in figure
When compared to the plate earth system the pipe earth system can
carry larger leakage currents due to larger surface area is in contact
with the soil for given electrode size. This system also enables easy
maintenance as the earth wire connection is housed at the ground
levels.
(iii) Rod earthing:
It is the same method as pipe earthing, A copper rod of
12.5cm (1/2 inch) diameter or 16mm (0.6in) diameter of
galvanized steel or hollow section 25mm (1 inch) of GI pipe
of length above 2.5m (8.2 ft) are buried upright in the earth
manually or with the help of a pneumatic hammer.
The length of embedded electrodes in the soil reduces earth
resistance to a desired value.
(iv) Strip or wire earthing:
In this method of earthing strip electrodes of cross- section not
less than 25mm × 1.6mm (1 in × 0.06in) is buried in a horizontal
trench of a minimum depth of 0.5m. If copper with a cross-
section of 25mm × 4mm (1in × 0.15in) is used and a dimension
of 3.0 mm2 if it’s a galvanized iron or steel.
If at all round conductors are used, their cross-section area
should not be too small, say less than 6.0 mm2 if it’s a
galvanized iron or steel.
The length of the conductor buried in the ground would give a
sufficient earth resistance and this length should not be less than
15m.
The electrodes shall be as widely distributed as possible in a
single straight or circular trench radiating from a point. This
type of earthing is used where the earth bed has a rocky soil and
excavation work is difficult.