Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H.

Tipton
IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

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Abstract - A method is described which has been used to

reduce the difficulties encountered on several old
delta-ungrounded systems. Data are included which will help
in applying this to any particular power system. The scheme
gives an alarm whenever a ground fault occurs, permits everything to keep running even more assuredly than with an ungrounded system, and provides a method for quickly locating
the fault. Circuit diagrams and photographs of actual equipment are included, and operating practice is summarized.
Introduction
Should electric power systems be grounded and if so, what
is the best method to use? Much has been written, and many
heated arguments, not recorded, center about this subject. Before describing any one particular scheme, the authors will attempt to summarize the entire subject as objectively and as
briefly as possible.
An ungrounded system is one in which no intentional connection is made between any part of the system and ground.
Such a system is nevertheless grounded by the effect of the
distributed resistance and capacitance (mostly capacitance)
which exists between all the conductors (cables, motors, transformers, etc.) and ground.
A grounded system is one in which an intentional connection is made between the power system (preferably at the
neutral junction) and ground, either directly or through an impedance.
Present industrial power system practice seems to indicate a greater need for some form of system neutral grounding, as the voltage of the system increases. Many 480-volt systems have successfully operated ungrounded for years, but experience with the higher voltages has been such that almost all
12-kV systems are grounded. Between these two voltages are
a great variety of grounding conditions: Most of the older
2400-volt systems are ungrounded. Many 6900-volt systems
are still ungrounded. The best results in grounding 6900- and
12 000-volt industrial systems have been obtained by grounding the neutral through a resistor to limit ground-fault current
to a desirable value, but retaining enough to produce selective
tripping of breakers. Some 4160-volt systems are solidly neutral grounded although, for industrial service, there is much
Approved by the Petroleum Industry Committee for
presentation at the IEEE Petroleum Industry Technical
Conf., Houston, Tex., September 13-15, 1965.
Francis K. Fox is with the Central Electric Company, San
Francisco, Calif.
Howard J. Grotts is with the Tidewater Oil Company,
Avon, Calif.
Clyde H. Tipton is with the Standard Oil Company of
California, Richmond, Calif.

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

preference for resistance grounding at this, as well

as at other voltage levels above 600 volts. Power
company practice is usually to ground the neutral
solidly, if available. Many 480-volt industrial systems have been solidly grounded. In the last few
years, many 2400- and 4160-volt systems have been
resistance grounded with ground-fault immediate
tripping of breakers or high-voltage motor controllers.
What determines the best power system? The
ideal system would be one in which a failure never
occurred but, even if such a system could be built,
the cost would be prohibitive. So power systems are
designed to produce as little trouble as possible.
The hooker is in defining the word trouble.
First, there is the difficulty of obtaining the money
with which to build the power system: no one can
overlook that trouble. Next, recollect all the trouble
you have experienced from power outages or equipment failures and what it cost you. You have read or
heard about other engineers troubles; evaluate them
as they might affect you if those same troubles appear in your plant.
The next step is devising a system with features
for protecting against these troubles. However, the
cost of the various protective features must always
be balanced against the cost of the troubles.
Electrical failures occur in many ways, but most
failures originate as ground faults. In this paper, the
authors are confining themselves to a brief summary
of how system neutral grounding may affect the
trouble which such failures produce.
For most industrial power systems 2400 volts
and above, probably the least trouble will be produced if the system neutral is grounded through a
resistor which will limit ground-fault current to a
few hundred amperes, but will retain enough current to trip a breaker immediately and remove the
faulty equipment from the system. This method of
grounding has the following advantages:
1) System overvoltages are reduced both in magnitude and duration.
2) Faulty equipment is immediately known.
3) Damage at the point of fault is negligible.
4) Hardly any voltage disturbance is noticed on
the system, and no other loads are affected.
5) Methods for detecting and removing ground
faults in modem switchgear with the use of breakers
(not fuses) and high-voltage motor controllers are
accurate, sensitive, and economical.

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However, this method has several disadvantages:

1) No warning precedes the tripping of a breaker or the
opening of a motor contactor.
2) Sudden stoppage of a motor, or of all loads on an entire
circuit, may cause considerable damage to a process plant.
3) On an old system, adding needed neutral grounding
equipment and ground-fault relaying is expensive.
For various reasons, there are many ungrounded 2400- or
4160-volt systems in operation. These systems are all subject
to the following possible troubles:
1) Certain types of ground faults can produce dangerous
high transient overvoltages throughout the entire system.
2) These overvoltages can a) produce an immediate failure of some other equipment on another feeder resulting in the
simultaneous tripping of two breakers, or b) weaken other insulation so that the next failure will take place sooner.
3) A ground fault sometimes goes unnoticed for days or
weeks. Even if no dangerous transient overvoltages are produced, such a fault usually develops into a phase-to-phase fault
Fig. 1. Diagram of grounding method for system having
with consequent increased damage at the point of fault.
ungrounded
delta power supply of 24UO or 4,160 volts: con4) It is annoying, time consuming, and sometimes hazardous to locate the ground fault by switching loads on and off, in trol and protective circuits not shown.
order to remove the faulty equipment from the system.
fault, so that it can be traced to the point of fault. This pulsing
High Resistance Grounding System Utilizing Pulsing is accomplished without ever removing the high-resistance
neutral grounding connection.
Ground-Fault Detector Apparatus*
6) Provide a means for measuring the system-charging
current so that the proper degree of minimum neutral groundThis high-resistance grounding scheme was developed to
ing by high resistance can be accomplished.
overcome the troubles which are associated with an ungrounded
System-charging current is the highly leading power facsystem and which have already been described. Briefly, the
tor ground-fault current (on an ungrounded system) required
scheme is designed to
to charge the capacitance of the other two phases to ground.
1) Eliminate the high transient overvoltages which can
The component of ground-fault current controlled by the
appear during arcing ground faults.
high-resistance neutral ground must be slightly greater than
2) Give immediate warning when a ground fault occurs.
the system charging current. The reason for this, as well as a
3) Accomplish this with a minimum of system neutral
complete explanation of the nature and causes of system ovgrounding, so that the current at the ground fault will be only
ervoltages can be found in the General Electric Industrial
slightly greater than (but perhaps even less than) the fault curPower Systems Data Book [1].
rent would be if the system were left ungrounded. (In the case
of a sputtering fault, the ground-fault current in an ungrounded
Description of System
system may be increased to several times the bolted-fault value.
High-resistance grounding will hold the current value to subFigure 1. illustrates the manner in which grounding is
stantially the steady-state bolted-fault value.)
accomplished. The system neutral is derived by three small
4 Enable the system to continue operation with a single
(3- to 10-kVA) transformers, connected wye-broken delta, as
line-to-ground fault present, in the same manner as an unshown. The primary neutral is grounded through a current
grounded system. (The high-resistance grounding circuit is an
transformer and ammeter, so that ground fault current can be
excellent damper of high-frequency transient oscillations so
measured. The secondary neutral is connected to a resistor
that, in some cases, the ability to continue operation might be
with taps, so that the proper resistance can be used to control
enhanced.)
the current which will flow into a ground fault. The small
5) Provide a means for pulsing the current into the ground
arrows show the path of the ground-fault current. Notice that
*U. S. patent pending; applied for by F. K. Fox for the the ground-fault current is equally divided in the three small
transformers, and that it also circulates through the delta supGeneral Electric Company.
ply system. The arrows represent currents which are in phase.

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

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Several actual ground faults have been located in

this manner. Several ground faults have also been deliberately placed on systems of different types in order to check the ability of the system to follow these
pulses to the point of fault.

Corresponding currents in the secondary neutral circulate in the broken delta and through the resistor. This method is equivalent to losing
On systems involving bare overhead lines on
the delta and grounding the primary neutral through a high resistance.
poles, tracing the signal is simple because all the fault
Figure 2 presents the actual voltage conditions, both normally and
current is forced to return through ground. On syswith a ground fault on the system. A typical 2400-volt power system
tems involving conduit, tracing the signal is harder
of around 5000 kVA may require 3 amperes, as shown, at the point of
because the fault current tends to return through the
fault. This would produce 1 ampere in each primary and, if the transconduit of the circuit involved. To the extent that this
former ratio is 20 to 1, a current of 20 amperes through the resistor at
happens, the return current in the conduit cancels out
208 volts. This allows using a low-voltage resistor and pulsing contactor.
the fault current flowing out through the conductor to
With no ground fault on the system, the voltage at the broken delta
the point of fault. Fortunately, even on all conduit
is zero. When a ground fault occurs, this voltage increases to a maxisystems, this cancelling effect is not 100 percent. If
mum of 208 volts, so that the voltage relay VR can give the alarm.
the hook-on ammeter is sensitive enough and if it is
For the typical system shown, this is equivalent to grounding the
insensitive to other local magnetic effects, the fault
system neutral through a 460-ohm resistor. The voltage conditions
can be located. The return current divides into strange
shown are for a solid ground fault but, even for a high-resistance fault,
unpredictable patterns and appears on conduits and
enough voltage will appear across the resistor to operate the voltage
metal structures not associated with the faulty circuit.
relay and sound an alarm. For example, if the entire ground-fault path
Also, these structures very often carry current attribintroduced 1000 ohms of resistance, the voltage across the resistor
utable to other causes not associated with the fault. In
would be around 55 volts. Relay VR can be set to pick up at approxiany case, the definite rhythmic pulse of the
mately 16 volts, which would actually detect and give the alarm, even
ground-fault current is extremely helpful.
if the incipient ground fault had a resistance of approximate 4000 ohms.
The signal receiver which has been found most
useful in tracing the pulsing ground-fault current is
the hook-on ammeter shown in Figs. 3 and 4. This
The operator then initiates a control circuit which causes the pulsdevice has a split core with a window large enough to
ing contactor to close approximately 40 times per minute to produce
encircle a 5-inch conduit. The handle is insulated from
current pulses of about a half-second duration. These pulses can be
the core so that it can be used safely on power cables
traced to the point of fault, with the use of a hook-on ammeter, as
of 2400- or 4160-volt systems which are not in conshown.
Locating the Fault

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

E-4

duit. Several degrees of sensitivity are provided. The split core

completely encircles the conduit, or cables in air, thereby ignoring the effect of other local magnetic fields to a great extent.
Physical Equipment
Several types of power systems have been grounded in
the manner described. One of the first installations is shown
in Fig. 5. The power supply consists of a 3750-kVA 3-phase tion is entirely by bare overhead lines on poles. The ground2400-volt transformer. Various feeders to a large tank-farm ing equipment at this location is in four separate housings
area originate in the switchgear in the background. Distribu- consisting of a fused oil switch, a 3-phase oil-immersed
grounding transformer, a relay and control panel, and a sec-

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

E-5

ondary resistor.
At another location, the same scheme has been used except that a spare breaker in a switchgear line-up was substituted for the fused oil switch. This is a superior method but,
of course, the breaker costs more than the fused switch.
A total of five such installations are set on a resistor tap to
produce approximately 2.7 amperes into a ground fault, with
pulsation to 3.5 amperes while hunting for the fault. The pulsing current will probably be increased to make ground-fault
tracing easier.
A more compact single-enclosure construction is shown
in Figs. 6 and 7. This installation is on a 4160-volt system
involving steam turbine-generators having a total capacity of
15 000-kVA and two 10 000-kVA transformer sources. The
fused disconnect switch and three dry-type grounding transformers are mounted in the left-hand high-voltage section
which is padlocked closed. The low-voltage resistor, relays
and controls are all mounted in the right-hand section and are
readily accessible. Louvres are provided to ventilate the resistor, which must dissipate approximately 15kW when a solid
ground fault occurs on the system. Normally, the resistor carries no current. This 4160-volt system was found to have a
charging current of approximately 6.4 amperes with a total
load of 20 000-kVA. The resistor is set on the tap to produce
6.5 amperes into a ground fault. Pulsing to 9.0 amperes is
utilized when hunting for the fault.
Similar single-enclosure equipment is presented in Figs.
8 and 9. This installation also involves 15 000-kVA of steam
turbine-generation but, in this case, the neutral of each gen-

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

erator was readily available through three single-pole disconnects. Therefore, the grounding transformer had only to
be a single-phase unit shown at the lower right. Both the
transformer and resistor sections of this equipment meat have
bolted covers. This 2400-volt system was found to have 3.6
amperes charging current with a 13 000-kVA load. The resistor was set to produce 4.5 amperes into a ground fault,
with pulsation to 8.0 amperes while tracking the signal to
locate the fault.
Operating Experience At Richmond Refinery
A pulsing ground-fault detector was installed on the
2400-volt system at the Standard Oil Refinery, Richmond,
Calif., in December 1963. Its primary function was to limit
the transient overvoltages, during a line-to-ground fault on
the system. Its secondary function was to impress a pulse on
the fault current so that a portable signal detector could be
used to trace the pulse to the grounded conductor.
The 2.4-kV system consists of three turbine-driven generators rated at 5000-kVA each, connected through reactors

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to three separate 2.4-kV busses. Each bus is connected

through a a reactor to a common synchronizing bus.
From the three busses, thirteen radial feeders distribute power to load centers throughout the refinery (Fig.
10).
Prior to installing the pulsing ground detector, the
neutrals of the generators were connected through a
resistor to ground. A 10/5-ampere current transformer
on the grounded line was connected to a recording
ammeter and an alarm panel. When the alarm sounded,
it was the signal for a long tedious search for the
grounded conductor. First, each bus section with its
generator had to be separated from the grounding system to determine which bus section contained the fault.
After this had been established, feeders were paralleled and loads switched from one bus to the other in
order to determine which feeder contained the ground
fault. Next, the faulted feeder was paralleled and
sectionalized until, finally, after several hours of
switching and various manipulations, the location of
the ground fault was narrowed down to a comparatively short section of line supplying perhaps five or
TABLE I
six motors. The motors were then shut down, one at a
time, until the fault cleared The entire operation, from
Values of Actual Tests on 2400-Volt Systems
start to finish, many times required as many as eight
hours.
kVA
There have been two ground faults on the 2.4-kV
Total
system since the pulsing ground detector was installed.
Trans- (Motors*
The first one occurred on August 7, 1964 about 3:30
Motors
formers and
Charging Charging
P.M. The operating crew had witnessed a demonstraRunning Connected TransCurrent Current,
tion of the use of the Pulsator but this was the first
System
hp
kVA
formers) Measured A/MVA
real thing. It required only 28 minutes from the time
the alarm sounded to find and shut down the faulty
Tidewater submotor. The elapsed time could have been considerstation 1
2700 4142 6842 2.55
0.373
ably less but, in this case, the fault happened to be on
Tidewater subthe No. 13 feeder, the last feeder to be checked, and
station 2
4500 3000 7500 1.98
0.264
was located quite a distance from the power plant near
Tidewater subthe end of the feeder.
station 7A
1900 1500 3400 0.42
0.124
The second ground fault occurred at 6:00 A.M.,
Tidewater subJanuary 4, 1965. The operating crew at the power plant
station 7B (1) 1900 1500 3400 0.29
0.085
had not been on duty when the previous ground fault
Tidewater subdeveloped. Therefore, this was also a first for them.
station 9
1225 1200 2425 0.34
0.140
In 18 minutes, the fault was traced to a forced-draft
Richmond
fan motor on the No. 6 station service feeder.
refinery
Thus far, the authors experience with the pulsing
2400ground detector has been extremely satisfactory. The
volt power
two ground faults at the Richmond Standard Oil Replant
11 525 11 925 23 450 3.6
0.154
finery were located in minutes, rather than hours; it
was not necessary to shut down any motor-driven
*Assuming 1 hp = 1kVA for motors.
(1) This substation feeds no 2300-volt motors smaller than 200 equipment while searching for the fault; and equally
hp, has only 675 feet of RL (5000 volts 3/C) cable total, 2 to 200 hp important, the hazard associated with hasty switchand 1 to 1500 hp motors were running, and 2 to 750 kVA (three 2300/ ing was avoided.
440-volt) transformers were energized.

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

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Operating Experience at Avon Refinery

The Tidewater Oil Company, Avon California Refinery, has
eight 2400-volt 3-phase delta systems. Each system is independent of the others and is fed by its own 2400-volt substation. Each substation is located at a load center. Many of these
systems are now provided with the high-resistance grounding
scheme, with ground-fault alarms and the pulsing signal to fault,
as described in this paper. A red alarm light is provided above
each substation and an annunciator alarm panel has been installed in the refinery electric shop. When a ground fault takes
place, both the substation alarm light and the electric-shop annunciator panel will light up. So far, this alarm system has
worked satisfactorily.
Prior to the installation of this high-resistance grounding
scheme, every time a dreaded ground fault arose, a great many
hours were required to isolate, locate, and repair the fault. On
a few occasions, the ground faults did not have to be tracked
down because the trouble was actually multiple simultaneous
failures.
The first grounding system was placed in operation on
October 24, 1962. The other grounding systems were installed
in 1963. All the grounding systems have been in service for
about 1 1/2 years.
Four ground faults have occurred on systems involving
open-wire lines since these systems have been in operation.
The first one appeared when a potential transformer on the
2300-volt side of a 2300/440-volt 3-phase transformer bank
went to ground. This transformer bank is fed from an open-wire
overhead line by way of a pole riser from the main 2400-volt
substation switchgear through lead-covered cable in conduit
to the overhead line, then from the overhead line by way of
lead-covered cable in conduit to the transformer. The pulsing
current was 3 and 3.8 amperes. The faulty circuit was readily
found at the substation. It was then a matter of checking for the
pulse current at each pole riser fed from the overhead-line circuit until the faulty riser and the trouble was found. All in all,
the actual tracking down took an hour or two. The second
ground fault occurred when the terminal box for a 2300-volt
800-hp motor filled with rain water. This motor was also fed
from an overhead line in much the same manner as was the
case with the first fault. Trouble 3 took place on the primary
side of a poIe-mounted series lighting transformer. Both faults
2 and 3 were tracked down with little difficulty. Trouble 4, also
found very quickly, was a ground fault in a current transformer
in one of the switch houses.

substation are 3 and 4 amperes. The fault was in the

high-voltage terminal box of a lighting transformer. With the
ground current dividing between the two parallel feeders, with
a resulting pulse current in each feeder of 1 1/2 and 2 amperes, and with much of the signal cancelled out by return
current on the conduit, it was not possible for company personnel to pick up the pulse with the nonhook-on-type signal
receiver used. By a method of elimination, the trouble was
narrowed down and the pulse was picked up in the conduit
feeding the faulty transformer.
System-Charging Current Data
Actual charging current seems to vary from one system
to another. An actual test must be made on each system so
that the lowest current tap of the resistor can be used. This
test can most conveniently be made after the grounding system is installed; therefore, an estimated charging current must
be ascertained at the time the equipment is purchased. The
estimated charging current should be on the high side. The
resistor tap must later be selected so that the ground current
is slightly above the actual measured charging current. For
2400-volt systems having an operating load of 15 000-kVA
and less, it has not been the authors experience to find a charging current over 4 amperes. The one 4-kV system tested
showed a charging current of 6.4 amperes with an operating
load of approximately 20 000 kVA.
The following values have been derived from the tests
presented in the table:
1) Overhead open-wire lines apparently have very little
effect on charging current unless they are many thousands of
feet in length.
2) VL or shielded cable appears to have the most effect
(in the order of 0.4 A/1000 ft for 2400 volts and 0.7 A/1000 ft
for 4-kV systems).
3) Non-shielded cables in conduit, transformers, and motors also have some effect, in the order of:
Non-shielded cables
.05 for 2400 V in Amps per 1000 ft
In conduit
.08 for 4160 V in Amps per 1000 ft
Transformers
0.3 for 2400 V in Amps per 1000 Kva
.05 for 4160 V in Amps per 1000 Kva
Motors .05 to .10 for 2400 V Motors in Amps per 1000 HP
.07 to .12 for 4000 V Motors in Amps per 1000 HP

4) Aerial cable approximates the value of cable in conduct.

A fault-tracking experience which proved more difficult
5) It is very important to include values for surge capaciwas on an all-conduit lead-jacketed cable system with parallel tors connected to the motor terminals or at switchgear buses.
feeders serving a crude unit. The pulse intensities used for this

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

E-8

This equipment will add about 0.75 amperes at 2400 volts or

1.3 amperes at 4160 volts, for each set of surge capacitors used.
6) The authors wish to point out that these values were
derived from limited test data and, therefore, are only approximate. It should also be realized that capacitance values will
vary considerably with the wide ranges of cable, wire, motor,
and transformer sizes installed in the typical refinery.
7) The authors have noted recent published test data [3]
wherein system-charging current of several 2400-volt mining
power systems was found to be in the order of 1.0 A/MVA of
system capacity. This is much greater than the current found
on any systems with which the authors have worked and is
probably caused by the extensive use of lead-covered or
shielded cables used in underground mining operations and
also by the extensive use of surge capacitors at the terminals of
large 2300-volt motors.
References
(1) Industrial Power Systems Data Book. Schenectady, N.
Y.: General Electric Company, Sec 0.220 and App. C.
(2) D. L. Beeman, Power Systems Handbook. New York:
McGraw Hill, 1955.
(3) W. R. Duffy, How the Anaconda Company protects
its system against ground faults, Indus. Power Sys., March
1964.
(4) Grounding of Industrial Power Systems, AIEE Special Publ. 953 (Green Book), October 1956, editorially revised on September, 1960.

Francis K. Fox, Howard J. Grotts, and Clyde H. Tipton

IEEE Transactions on Industry and General Applications
September/October 1965

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