Earthing In a Nutshell (Classification, Isolated Neutral,

Methods Of Neutral Grounding)

electrical-engineering-portal.com/earthing-in-a-nutshell

By Edvard May 17,

2018

Earthing (or Grounding) Term

The term earthing or grounding means connecting 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 all times an immediate discharge of electrical energy takes
place without danger.

Earthing In a Nutshell (Classification, Isolated Neutral, Methods Of Neutral Grounding) - on photo: Arc Suppression
Coil; credit: swedishneutral.se

The neutral grounding is an important aspect of power system design because the
performance of the system in terms of short circuits, stability, protection, etc., is greatly
affected by the condition of the neutral.

Contents:

1. Objects Of Earthing
2. Classification Of Earthing
1. Equipment Grounding
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 1.
1. Ungrounded enclosure
2. Enclosure connected to neutral wire
3. Ground wire connected to enclosure
2. System Grounding
3. Isolated Neutral Or Undergrounded Neutral
1. Circuit Behavior Under Single-Line-to-ground Fault
4. Advantages Of Neutral Grounding
5. Methods Of Neutral Grounding
1. Solid Grounding
2. Resistance Grounding
3. Reactance Grounding
4. Arc Suppression Coil Grounding (Or Resonant Grounding)

1. Objects Of Grounding
1. To save human life from danger or shock or by death by blowing fuse of any
apparatus which becomes leaky.
2. To protect all machines fed from overhead lines from lightning.
3. To protect large buildings from atmospheric lightning.
4. To maintain the line voltage constant (since neutral of every alternator,
transformer is earthed).

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2. Classification Of Earthing
Earthing may be classifed as:

1. Equipment grounding
2. System grounding

2.1 Equipment Grounding

The process of connecting noncurrent-carrying metal parts (i.e., metallic enclosure) of
the electrical equipment to earth (i.e., soil) in such a way that in case of insulation failure,
the enclosure effectively remains at earth potential is called equipment grounding.

We are frequently in touch with electrical equipment of all kinds, ranging from domestic
appliances and hand-held tools to industrial motors.

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Let’s illustrate the need of effective equipment grounding by considering a single-
phase circuit composed of a 230-V source connected to a motor M (see Figure 1).
Note that neutral is solidly grounded at the service entrance.
In the interest of easy understanding, we shall divide the discussion into three
heads:

2.1.1 Ungrounded enclosure

Figure 1 shows the case of ungrounded neutral enclosure. If a person touches the metal
enclosure, nothing will happen if the equipment is functioning correctly.

But if the winding insulation becomes faulty, the resistance Re between the motor
and the enclosure drops to a low voltage (a few hundred ohms or less). A person having
a body resistance R b would complete the current path as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – A person having a body resistance Rb would complete the current path

If Re is small, the leakage current IL through the person’s body could be dangerously
high. As a result the person would get electric shock which may be fatal. Therefore, this
system is unsafe.

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2.1.2 Enclosure connected to neutral wire

It may appear that the above problem can be solved by connecting the enclosure to the
grounded neutral wire as shown in Figure 2. Now the leakage current flows from the
motor, through the enclosure, and straight back to the neutral wire. Therefore, the
enclosure remains at earth potential.

Consequently, the operator would not experience any electric shock.

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 Figure 2 – Connecting the enclosure to the grounded neutral wire

The trouble with this method is that the neutral wire may become open either
accidentally or due to a faulty installation.

For example, if the switch is inadvertently in series with the neutral rather than the live
wire shown in Figure 3, the motor can still be turned on and off.

Figure 3 – Switch is inadvertently in series with the neutral

However, if someone touched the enclosure when the motor is off, he would receive a
severe electric shock. It is because when the motor is off, the potential of the enclosure
rises to that of the live conductor.

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2.1.3 Ground wire connected to enclosure

To get rid of this problem, we install a third wire, called ground wire, between the
enclosure and the system ground as shown in Figure 4. The ground wire may be bare or
insulated.

If it is insulated, it is colored green.

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 Figure 4 – Ground wire, between the enclosure and the system ground

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2.2 System Grounding

The process of collecting some electric parts of the power system (e.g., neutral point of a
star connected system, one conductor of the secondary of a transformer, etc.) to earth is
called system grounding.

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3. Isolated Neutral Or Undergrounded Neutral

A simple three-phase system with isolated neutral is shown in Figure 5. The line
conductors have capacitances between one another and the earth, the former being
delta connected, while the latter star connected.

Figure 5 – A simple three-phase system with isolated neutral

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The effect of line capacitances on the grounding characteristic of the system is little and
therefore can be neglected. The circuit then reduces to the one shown in Figure 6a.

First of all consider a three-phase line (perfectly transposed) having some capacitances to
ground. In such a line, the charging currents for each line to earth capacitor lead the
phase voltage by 90° and are equal.

where Vph is the phase voltage and XC is the reactance due to the capacitance of the line
to ground.

Figure 6 – (a) Tree phase system with isolated neutral. (b) Phasor diagram for isolated neutral system.

The capacitive currents ICR, ICY, and ICB are balanced and their resultant is zero and
no current flows to the earth and the potential of neutral is the same as the ground
potential.
Phasor diagram as shown in Figure 6b above.

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3.1 Circuit Behavior under Single Line-to-Ground Fault

Now consider a phase to earth fault in line Y say at point F. The circuit then becomes as
shown in Figure 7a. Under these circumstances, the faulty line takes up the earth
potential, while the potentials of remaining two healthy lines R and B rise from phase
value to line value.

The capacitance current becomes unbalanced and fault current IF flows through
the faulty line into the fault and returns to the system via earth and the earth
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capacitances CR and CB. Thus fault current IF has two components I CR and ICB which flows
through capacitances CR and CB, respectively, under the potential differences of V RY and
VBY, respectively.
The currents lead their respective voltages by 90° and their phasor sum is equal to fault
current IF.

Phasor diagram is shown in Figure 7b.

Similarly,

Now IF is equal to phasor sum of ICR and ICB. Magnitude of ICR and ICB are equal to
angle between them 60°.

Figure 7 – (a) Isolated neutral system with fault on one phase. (b) Phasor diagram for fault on phase Y.

Therefore, resultant capacitive fault current is given by:

Therefore,
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When a single line-to-ground fault occurs on an underground neutral system, following
effects are produced in the system:

Effect #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 voltage to full line value. This may result in insulation breakdown.

Effect #2 – The capacitive current in the two healthy phases increase to 3 times the
normal value.

Effect #3 – The capacitive fault current I F becomes three times the normal per-phase
capacitive current.

Effect #4 – The system cannot provide adequate protection against earth faults. It is
because the capacitive fault current is small in magnitude and cannot operate protective
device.

Effect #5 – The capacitive fault current flows IF into earth. Experience shows that IF in
excess of 4 or 5 A is sufficient to maintain an arc in the ionized path of the fault. If this
current is once maintained, it may exist even afer the earth fault is cleared.

This phenomenon of persistent arc is called arcing ground. Due to arcing ground, the
system capacity is charged and discharged in a cyclic order. This sets up high frequency
oscillation on the whole system, and the phase voltage of healthy conductors may
rise to five to six times its normal value.
The over voltages in healthy conductors may damage the insulation in the line.

Due to above disadvantage undergrounded system is not used these days. The modern high-
voltage three-phase system employs grounded neutral owing to a number of advantages.

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4. Advantages Of Neutral Grounding

The following are the advantages of neutral grounding:

1. Voltages of the healthy phases with respect to ground remain at normal value.
2. The high voltages due to arcing grounds are eliminated.
3. The protective relays can be used to provide protection against earth faults.
4. The over voltages due to lightning arc discharged to earth.
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 5. It provides greater safety to personnel and equipment.

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5. Methods Of Neutral Grounding

The methods commonly used for grounding the neutral point of a three-phase
system are:

1. Solid Grounding
2. Resistance Grounding
3. Reactance Grounding
4. Arc Suppression Coil Grounding (Or Resonant Grounding)

5.1 Solid Grounding

When the neutral point of a three-phase system (e.g., three-phase generator, three-
phase transformer, etc.) is directly connected to earth (i.e., soil) through a wire of
negligible resistance and reactance, it is called solid grounding or effective grounding.

Figure 8 shows the solid grounding of the neutral point.

When there is a ground fault over

any phase, the phase to earth
voltage of a grounded phase will
become zero, but the voltage to
earth of the remaining two healthy
phases will be the normal phase
voltage as in this case neutral point
will not shift.

Under a line-to-ground fault on

phase B, as shown in Figure 9a, the
Figure 8 – Solid grounding of neutral
neutral and the terminal B are at
earth potential. The phasor
diagram for such a condition is shown in Figure 9b. The reversed phasor is shown at VB.
Capacitive current ICR leads VNR by 90° and I CY leads VNY by 90°.

The resultant capacitive current I C will be phasor sum of I CR and I CY.

It should be noted that in this system, in addition to capacitive current, the supply source
also supplies the fault current IF.

This current will go to the fault point F through the faulty phase and then return back
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to supply source through the earth and neutral connection.
The fault current IF lags behind the faulty phase voltage by approximately 90° since the
circuit is predominately inductive (due to transformers, machines, and line inductance).
The fault current IF will be in phase opposition to capacitive current I C. Due to this effect
the capacitive current IC will be faulty neutralized by the large fault current.

Therefore, no arcing ground phenomenon or overvoltage condition can occur.

Figure 9 (a) Solidly grounded system with ground fault on one phase. (b) Phasor diagram for fault on phase B.

In case of solid grounding when there is an earth fault on any phase of the system, the
phase to earth voltage of the faulty phase becomes zero.

However, the phase to earth voltage of the remaining two healthy phases remains at
normal-phase voltage because the potential of the neutral is fixed at earth potential.
This permits to insulate the equipment for phase voltage. Therefore, there is a
saving in the cost of equipment.
When there is an earth fault on any phase of the system, large fault current flows
between the fault point and the grounded neutral. This permits the easy operation of
earth relay.

Limitations
This method also has some limitations:

Limitation #1 – The solid grounding results in heavy earth fault currents. Since
the fault has to be cleared by the circuit breaker, the heavy earth fault currents may
cause the burning of circuit breaker contacts.

Limitation #2 – The increased earth fault current results in greater interference

in neighboring communication line.

Application
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This system of grounding is used for voltages up to 33 kV with total power capacity not
exceeding 5000 kVA.

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5.2 Resistance Grounding

When it becomes necessary to limit earth fault current, a current limiting device is
introduced in the neutral and earth. One method of introducing a current limiting device
is resistance earthing or grounding.

The value of R should neither be very low or nor very high. If the value of is very low, the
earth fault current will be large and the system becomes similar to solid grounding
system. On the other hand, if the earthing resistance R is very high, the system condition
becomes similar to undergrounded system.
When there is a ground fault over any phase, neutral is displaced and the maximum
voltage across the healthy phases becomes equal to line-to-line voltage.

Figure 10a shows a ground fault on phase B of a resistance grounded system. The
phasor diagram for such a condition is illustrated in Figure 10b.

Figure 10 – (a) Resistance grounded system with ground fault on one phase. (b) Phasor diagram for fault on phase B.

Capacitive current ICR and ICY leads V BR and V BY, respectively, by 90°. Fault current IF lags
the phase voltage of the faulted phase by an angle ϕ, which depends on the grounding
resistance R and independent of the system up to the fault point.

The fault current IF can be resolved into two components, one in phase with the faulty
phase voltage and the other lagging the faulty phase voltage by 90° (IF sin ϕ). The
lagging component of fault current is in phase opposition to the capacitive current IC.

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By adjusting the value of grounding resistance R to a sufficient low value, it is possible to
neutralize the effect of IC so as to avoid the occurrence of transient oscillations due to
the arcing ground.

In case the grounding resistance R is made sufficiently large so that the lagging component of
fault current becomes less than capacitive current IC, then the system conditions approach
that of the isolated neutral system the risk of high transient voltage occurrence.

Application
Resistance grounding is usually employed for the systems operating on voltage
exceeding 3.3 kV but not exceeding 33 kV.

For circuit below 3.3 kV (i.e., say 400 V distribution networks), the external resistance in
the neutral circuit is unnecessary because the voltage available between phase and
ground is only 230 V.

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5.3 Reactance Grounding

In this system, a reactance is inserted between the neutral and ground as shown in
Figure 11.

Figure 11 – Reactance grounding

The purpose of reactance is to limit the earth fault current. By changing the earthing
resistance, the earth fault current can be changed to obtain the condition similar to that
of solid grounding.

This method is not used these days because of the following disadvantages:

1. In this system the fault current required to operate the protective device is higher
than that of resistance grounding for the same fault conditions.
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 2. High transient voltages appear under fault conditions.

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5.4 Arc Suppression Coil Grounding (or Resonant Grounding)

We have seen that capacitive currents are responsible for producing arcing grounds.
These capacitive currents flow because capacitance exists between each line and earth.

If inductance L of appropriate value is connected in parallel with the capacitance of the

system, the fault current IF flowing through L will be in phase opposition to capacitive
current I C of the system. If L is so adjusted that I L = I C, then resultant current in the fault
will be zero. This condition is known as resonant grounding.

When the value of L of arc suppression coil is such that the fault current I F exactly
balances the capacitive current IC, it is called Resonant grounding.
An arc suppression coil (also called Peterson coil) is an iron-cored coil connected
between the neutral and earth as shown in Figure 12.

The reactor is provided with tapings to change the inductance of the coil. By adjusting
the tapings on the coil, the coil can be tuned with the capacitance of the system, that is,
resonant grounding can be achieved.

Figure 12 – (a) Resonant grounded system with ground fault on one phase. (b) Phasor diagram for fault on phase B.

On occurrence of a ground fault (say on phase B), a lagging reactive current flows from
the faulted phase to the ground and returns to the system through the inductive coil.
Simultaneously capacitive current flows from healthy phase to ground. The lagging fault
current I F and leading capacitive current I C are almost in phase opposition.

By a proper selection of the value of inductance L of the arc suppression coil , the two
current can be made almost equal so that there is no current through the ground fault and so
there will be no arc.
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The combination of neutral reactance L and line capacitance C acts as a parallel
resonant circuit.

Capacitive current:

For balance condition:

Advantages of Peterson coil grounding

1. The Peterson coil grounding is an effective method of clearing both transient faults
due to lightning and sustained single line-to-ground faults.
2. There is no tendency of arcing grounds to occur, and the arcs are usually self-
extinguishing.
3. Voltage drops to single line-to-ground faults are minimized.

Disadvantages of Peterson coil grounding

1. There is a need for retuning afer any network modification.
2. The line should be transposed.
3. There is an increase in corona and radio interference in the event of a double line-
to-ground fault.

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Reference // Elements of Power Systems by Pradip Kumar Sadhu and Soumya Das

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