Electrical Workshop

EE-113
Lecture No. 05
Prepared by: Engr. Shafaq Ejaz

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EE-113 Department of Electrical Power Engineering

Lecture Topic

Safety/Protection Devices
Earthing

EE-113 Department of Electrical Power Engineering

Lecture Contents
Introduction
Types

Important Terms
Earthing Pocedure

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Introduction
Earthing or grounding is the term used for electrical connection to
the general mass of earth.

Equipment or a system is said to be 'earthed' when it is effectively

connected to the ground with a conducting object.
Describes the act of being connected to the earth or some other
conduction body that serves in place of the earth.

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Introduction
Earthing provides protection to personal and equipment by ensuring
operation of the protective gear and isolation of faulty circuit during:
Insulation failure
Accidental contact
Lightning strike

Earthing is necessary for proper functioning of certain equipments.

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Introduction
Earthing is done also for preventing the operating personal from
hazardous shocks caused by the damage of the heating appliances.
Consider an electric heater connected to the supply using two-pin

plug and socket. If by some chance the heating element comes in

contact with the metallic body of the heater, the body of the heater
being a conducting material will be at the same potential as the
heating coil. If a person comes and touches the body of the heater,
current will flow through his body, which will result in an electric
shock.
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Introduction
To avoid unnecessary accident, it is recommended that electric
heater be connected to a 3-pin socket using a 3-core cable. (Note: To

see a three-core cable, open a plug of an electric iron. There will be

three wires, red, blue and green. The green wire connected to the
body of the iron is the earth wire) In this case the body of the
electric heater is connected to the green wire of the cable, which is
connected to the earth through the earth terminal.

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Introduction
The resistance of the path to the earth terminal through the earth
wire is very low. Hence, even if the heating element comes in
contact with the metallic body and a human being comes in contact
with the metallic body, major part of the current will flow only
through the earth wire (usually the green wire in a 3 core cable).

Moreover because of the low resistance path, a large current will

flow through the phase wire and the fuse will blow off. For large
current to flow, earth resistance should be low. To achieve this
proper earthing has to be done.

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Types
Earthing is classified as:
1.

System Earthing

2.

Equipment Earthing

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Types
1. System Earthing:
It is the earthing of neutrals of generating stations and
substations. It is employed to limit the voltage of live
conductors with respect to potential of general mass of earth.
This is necessary to prevent failure of insulation.

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Types
2. Equipment Earthing:
Is earthing of non current carrying metal parts of electrical
equipments. As per Rules non-current carrying metal parts
must be earthed with two separate and distinct earth continuity

conductors

to

an

efficient

earth

electrode.

However

equipments with double insulation need not be earthed.

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Important Terms
1. Earth Electrode:
Connection to earth is achieved by electrically connecting a
metal plate, rod or other conductors or an array of conductors

to the general mass of earth. This metal plate or rod or

conductor is called as "Earth electrode".

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Important Terms
2. Earth Lead:
The conductor by which connection to earth is made.
3. Earth loop impedance:
The total resistance of earth path including that of conductors,
earth wire, earth leads and earth electrodes at consumer end
and substation end.
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Important Terms
Earth resistance consists of following components:
Resistance of metal electrode
Contact resistance between electrode and soil
Resistance of soil away from electrode surface.
The resistance decreases with the presence of moisture and salt in soil.
To increase the effectiveness of earth, the total earth resistance should

be reduced.
Efforts should be made to reduce the resistance contributed by each of

above three components.

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Important Terms
Earth Electrode Resistance:
Factors affecting the value of earth electrode resistance:
Electrode material
Electrode size
Material and size of earth wire
Moisture content of soil
Depth of electrode of underground

Quantity of dust and charcoal in earth pit

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Important Terms
Soil Resistivity:
Factors, which affect the soil resistivity:
Temperature of soil: the resistivity increases when temperature falls below
the freezing point. If the temperature falls from 20degrees C to O degree C,
soil resistivity goes up from 7200-ohm cm to 14000-ohm cm.
Moisture Content of Soil: Small changes in moisture content seriously affect
the resistivity. For example if the moisture content changes from 25% to

30%, soil resistivity drops from 250000-ohm cms to 6400-ohm cm. It is

important that earth electrodes should be in contact with moist soil. It should
be ensured that the electrodes are deep in soil and if possible below the

permanent water level.

Mechanical Composition of soil: finer the grading, lower the resistance.
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Earthing Procedure
1. Pipe Earthing:
Pipe earthing is done by permanently placing a pipe in wet ground.
The pipe can be made of steel, galvanized iron or cast iron.
Usually GI pipes having a length of 2.5m and an internal diameter
of 38mm are used.
The pipe should not be painted or coated with any non-conducting
material.
The pipe should be placed atleast 1.25m below the ground level and

it should be surrounded by alternate layers of charcoal and salt for a

distance of around 15 cm. This is to maintain the moisture level
and to obtain lower earth resistance.

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Earthing Procedure
1. Pipe Earthing:

The earth lead of sufficient gauge should be firmly connected to the

electrode and it should be carried in a Gl pipe at a depth of 60cm
below the ground level.
A funnel with a wire mesh should be provided to pour water into the
sump.

Three or four bucket of water should be poured in a few days

particularly during summer season. This is to keep the surroundings of
the electrode permanently moist.

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Earthing Procedure
1. Pipe Earthing:

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Earthing Procedure
2.

Plate Earthing
The plate electrode should have a minimum dimension of 600x600x3.15mm
for copper plate or 600x600x6.3mm for GI plates.

The plate electrode should be placed atleast 1.5m below the ground level.
The earth conductor is to be securely connected to the plate by means of bolts
and nuts. The bolts and nuts should be of the same material as that of the
plate.
The earth conductor should be carried in a Gl pipe buried 60 cm below the
ground level. The plate electrode should be surrounded by a layer of charcoal
to reduce the earth resistance.
A separate Gl pipe with funnel and wire mesh attached is provided to pour

water into the sump.

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Earthing Procedure
2.

Plate Earthing

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Earthing Procedure
3. Strip Earthing
For all places having a rocky soil bed, this type of earthing is suitable.

On this system, wires or strips made of GI of size 25 mm x 4 mm or

made of copper of size 25 mm x 1.6 mm are embedded 0.5 m, below

the soil in the form of a network.

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Q?
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