Typical Earthing calculations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. General

site

conditions
3
2. General

power

supply

conditions
3
3. Applicable

standards

and

references
3
4. Design

basics

of

earthing

system.
...3
5. Design
methodology
.4
6. Typical

earthing

calculation
....4
7. Summary

of

design
.7

Page | 2

The purpose of this document is to provide project specific basic design

calculation for the Solar Array and inverter Earthing system.
1. General site Conditions
Maximum ambient temperature :

40 Deg. C

Relative humidity (max)

37 % to 57 %

Altitude

479 Mtrs above mean sea

level.
Atmosphere

Light Dusty

2. General Power supply conditions:

The available LT power supply is as given below:
DC supply voltage

AC supply Voltage

Voltage variation

Frequency variation

1000V DC, 2 wire, unearthed.

230Volts, 1 ph, 50 Hz, 2 wire.
10 %
:

5%

Fault Levels
415V side

50kA for 1 second

3. Applicable standards and reference

(i)

IS-3043 1987

Code of practice for Earthing.

Page | 3

4. Design Basis for Earthing system

Earthing system consists of (i) Main earth grid (strip).
(ii) Earth electrode.
(iii) Earthing conductor.
Earth grid and earth electrodes were buried in soil in the solar array field,
embedded in concrete inside the buildings to which all the electrical
equipment, metallic structures are connected to have earth continuity for
safety reasons.
Earth conductor shall be provided on each floor of building, switchgear
cum control building etc., for equipment earthing purpose only.

These

shall be connected to the buried earth grid.

Earth grid is a GI Strip that was buried 100 mm in depth.
Earth electrode is a GI Pipe that has installed in 3000 mm depth from
ground level (GL).
Earth conductor is GI wires used to connect between metallic structures.
Ultimately, the total earth resistance at any point of the earthing system
shall not be more than one ohm.
Recommended Conductor/Flat Sizes for Ground Connections
Sl.
No:
1

Equipment

Material

Main earth grid

Galvanized
Steel

Earth electrode

Galvanized
Steel

Earthing
conductor

Galvanized
Steel

Size
(40 X 3)mm
40
mm
Dia.,
3 mtr long
3 mm

5. Design methodology
IS 3043 defined that earthing systems are of two types 1) Body earthing.
2) Neutral earthing.
We can take a look into the design methodology that how the inverters,
junction boxes and mounting structures were earthed.

Page | 4

 Inverter is installed on L-Clamp frame mounting structure where both

body of equipment and frame were earthed by GI wire.
Neutral of an inverter is connected to (40 x 3) mm GI strip through 4
sq.mm single core copper wire.
All the inverters are connected to the same GI strip to form an earth grid
and directly connected to an earth electrode with GI clamp, nut and bolt.
Similarly, the metallic structures which are used for mounting the solar
modules were looped with GI wire at legs and connected to earth
electrode; ultimately a grid formation will be done.
6. Typical Earthing Calculation
5.1 )

Calculation of Main Earth Strip Size:

The Earthing conductor size can be calculated by

(Is / S)=K (1 / t)

(As per IS 3043 Cl.12.2.2.1)

So,
S (Cross Sectional Area)

(Is * t) / K

Where
S=

Cross Sectional Area in Sq.mm

Is =

Fault Current in Amps

50000A

t=

Withstand time in sec

1 sec

K=

Material Factor

80 for Steel (As per IS 3043,

(50000 * 1) / 80 =

625 Sq.mm

pg. no.31)
Therefore,
S

Converting Min. Conductor size (Sq.mm) to Equivalent MS Rod Sizing (D)

Diameter (D)=

(4 x S / )

(4 x 625 / (22/7))

28 mm

Considering Corrosion factor of 4.5mm for 500 ohm-m (Soil Resistivity),

=

28+10

38 mm

So Considered 40 mm Dia MS rod.

5.2)

Resistance of Earth Pit:

Considered 40mm dia, 3 M long GI Electrode rod
Resistance per pit is given by- (As per IS: 3043----------Clause No.9.2.2)

Page | 5

R = 100 x loge 4 x l
2xxl

Where
R = Resistance of earth electrode
l = length of the rod or pipe (in cm)

= 300 cm.

d = diameter of the rod or pipe (in cm)

= 4 cm.

= Resistivity of soil (in Ohm-m)

R

100 x 500

loge 4 x 300

2 x x 300
R
5.3)

= 500 m

= 66.26 .

Resistance of Earth Strip:

(As per IS 3043, pg. no.21 cl.9.2.3)

Rs

= 100 Log
2 L

2L2
wt

Where

Resistivity of soil (in Ohm-m)

Length of the conductor in cm

depth of the burial of the electrode in cm

width (for strip) or twice the diameter (for conductor)

in cm.

Rs

Assumed Length Strip (L)

: 2,96,500 cm

Width of strip (t)

: 4 cm

Depth of the Buried Strip (w)

: 100 cm

= Resistivity of soil (in Ohm-m)

: 500 -m

= 100 x 500

Log

2 x 296,5002

2x3.14x296,500 100 x 2*4

=
5.4)

0.273

Overall effective grid resistance in Ohms

Page | 6

After attaining the effective resistance of Earth Pit (Total Nos) and Earth
Strip (Total length) the effective resistance of the total grid is obtained by
(Effective combined resistance of earth pits) x (Effective combined
resistance of strip)
R
eff
=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Effective combined resistance of earth pits) + (Effective combined
resistance of strip)

R eff should be less than 1.

For the above case
R eff = ((66.267/30(Assumed pits)) x 0.273) / ((66.267/30(Assumed pits))+
0.273)
= (2.2089 x 0.273) / (2.2089+ 0.273)
= 0.243 (which is less than 1) and hense the design is safe.
Hence, as per the design calculations, the effective resistance of the earthing
system is 0.243 ohms and which is a safe resistance value.
7.

Summary of design
Sl.N
o.

Particulars

Material/Connection

Inverter & mounting

frame body earthing

3 mm GI Wire 40 mm Dia. 3mtr GI Pipe.

Inverter neutral
earthing

4 Sq.mm 1C CU wire to (40 x 3) mm GI

strip to 40 mm Dia. 3mtr GI Pipe.

Metallic structure
earthing

3 mm GI wire (loop) to 40 mm Dia. 3mtr

GI Pipe.

Junction boxes
earthing

(40 x 3) mm GI strip to 40 mm Dia. 3mtr

GI Pipe.

Page | 7

Page | 8