Discussion

Why insulation test is necessary?

All live conductors of electrical appliances and installations must be insulated to prevent electric shock
hazards from careless contact, fire hazards from short circuit damage. A low insulation resistance in
installation will result in leakage current, and hence causes a waste of energy which would increase the
running costs of insulation.

Insulation resistance must be check by applying appliances or installation a higher voltage than its
normal working voltage, because an insulation resistance is lower at higher voltage than at lower
voltage.

Periodical test is also important to ensure that insulation of installations or appliances is not
deteriorating. Foreign matter and mechanical factors like wear or breakage may reduce insulation
resistance.
Why ground?

Poor grounding not only contributes to unnecessary downtime, but a lack of good grounding is also
dangerous and increases the risk of equipment failure.Without an effective grounding system,we could
be exposed to the risk of electric shock, not to mention instrumentation errors,harmonic distortion
issues, power factor problems and a host of possible intermittent dilemmas. If fault currents have no
path to the ground through a properly designed and maintained grounding system, they will find
unintended paths that could include people.

However, good grounding isn’t only for safety. It is also used to prevent damage to industrial plants and
equipment. A good grounding system will improve the reliability of equipment and reduce the likelihood
of damage due to lightning or fault currents.

Why test grounding systems?

Over time, corrosive soils with high moisture content, high salt content, and high temperatures can
degrade ground rods and their connections. So although the ground system when initially installed, had
low earth ground resistance values, the resistance of the grounding system can increase if the ground
rods are eaten away.

What is a good ground resistance value?

There is a good deal of confusion as to what constitutes a good ground and what the ground resistance
value needs to be. Ideally a ground should be of zero ohms resistance. There is not one standard ground
resistance threshold that is recognized by all agencies. However, the NFPA (National Fire Protection
Association) and IEEE have recommended a ground resistance value of 5.0 ohms or less. The goal in
ground resistance is to achieve the lowest ground resistance value possible that makes sense
economically and physically.
Why Earth Fault Loop Impedance Test is Done?

Every circuit must be tested to make sure that the actual loop impedance does not exceed that specified
for the protective device concerned. Because of the severity of coming into contact with an electrical
fault, having your electrical installations and power points tested for earth fault loop impedance is very
important. Our systems are valuable and circuitry needs to be maintained for the durability and
functionality of our business. In most homes, basic shock protection is done by organising an earthing
circuit with automatic switches in the indoor wiring circuits. This quickly cuts off supply to an earthing
circuit where a fault occurs and touch voltage exceeds an acceptable limit.

According to the current national safety standards, we are required to conduct loop impedance test on
our premises to ensure the safety of all guests and employees. The electrical earth of all our electrical
installations and power points has to be tested to discover any faults within our electric circuit. Having a
functional earth return circuit will allow the detection of circuit faults and facilitate a reaction from MCB.
Discussion
Introduction to automatic star delta motor starter

They are used in an attempt to reduce the starting current applied to the motor during start as a means
of reducing the disturbances and interference on the electrical supply besides limiting the starting
current.

Most induction motors are started directly on line, but when very large motors are started that way,
they cause a disturbance of voltage on the supply lines due to large starting current surges. To limit the
starting current surge, large induction motors are started at reduced voltage and then have full supply
voltage reconnected when they run up to near rotated speed.

We use Star Delta Starters for three phase squirrel cage induction motors that are normally designed to
work on a Delta Connection. The major applications of motors with Star Delta Starters are fans, pumps,
centrifugal chillers in ACs, etc.