Session20 Earthing/GroundingRegulations

Earthing/GroundingRequirements
Aneffectiveearthingsystemisafundamentalrequirementofanymodernstructureorsystem foroperationaland/orsafetyreasons.Withoutsuchasystem,thesafetyofastructure,the equipmentcontainedwithinitanditsoccupantsiscompromised. Earthingsystemstypicallyfallinto(butarenotlimitedto)oneofthefollowingcategories: Powergeneration,transmissionanddistribution Lightningprotection Controlofundesirablestaticelectricity Telecommunications. Thefollowingschematicillustratesthekeyelementsofaneffective earthingsystem. ConductorsandEarthrods As swithlightning g gprotection, p o ec o ,the efirst s choice c o cefaced acedbythe edesigner des g e of o anearthingsystemisthetypeofconductortobeused.Thecorrect choiceofconductorisextremelyimportant,whetheritbeasimple belowgroundelectrodeoracomplexcomputerroomsignal referencegrid. Conductors Typicalconductortypesincludeflattape,solidcircularandstrandedcable. Forabovegroundapplications,copper,aluminumandsteelmaybeused.Belowground,copperisthe mostcommonchoiceduetoitshighresistancetocorrosion. corrosion Itisimportantthatearthingconductorsshouldbecorrectlysizedfortheirapplication,astheymaybe requiredtocarryaconsiderablecurrentforseveralseconds.

Examplesoftypicalearthinginstallation

TypesofEarthingConnections
MechanicalorExothermictypeconnectionsarebothusedintheInternationalWorldfor earthingconnections.Specificcountriesandclientshavepreferencesforonemethodorthe other,butingeneral,botharewidelyusedandareacceptedengineeringpractice.

TypicalEarthingCableSizing

Thecrosssectionalareaofbranchconductorsconnectingequipmentandstructures toplantearthringshallbeasfollowed:

EarthingandBondingSystems
Theprincipalreasonsforearthingandbondinginelectricalinstallationsare: Toeliminatethepossibilityofelectricshocktopersonnel Toenableprotectiondevicestooperatecorrectlysothatthedurationoffaultcurrentsarekepttoaminimum Toequalizethevoltagepotentialofnormallynoncurrentcarryingmetalwork Topreventelectrostaticchargeofprocessplanttofluidmovement Inhazardousareas,theeliminationofsourcesofignitionisveryimportantandeffectiveearthingandbonding playanimportantrole.EN6007914clause4.7statesthatcareshallbetakentoensurethattheearthingand potential i lequalization li i bonding b di provisions i i in i hazardous h d areasaremaintained i i din i good dcondition di i Typesofcommonsystemsareasfollowed: TNS System y hasseparate p neutralandp protectiveconductorsthroughout g TT Asysteminwhichonepointofthesourceofenergyisdirectlyearthedbutwhichelectricallyindependent oftheelectrodesusedtoearththeexposedconductivepartsoftheelectricalsystem. TNC Asysteminwhichasingleconductorservesasboththeneutralandprotectiveconductorinpartofa system IT Asysteminwhichthereisnodirectconnectionbetweenlivepartsandearthbutexposedconductive partsoftheelectricalinstallationareearthed.

EquipotentialBondingin HazardousAreas
TheEN6007914installationdirectiverequires equipotentialbondingwithinhazardousareasofZones 0and1topreventtheoccurrenceofsparkscapableof causingignitionorofatemperaturerisecausedby potentialdifferences.Implementationofthe equipotentialbondingmustcomplywiththesystem configurationtoDINVDE0100Part410andthedesign ratings ti t toDINVDE0100P Part t540 540. Fullequipotentialbondingisachievedbyconnecting notonlythehousingsoftheelectricalequipmentinto theequipotentialbonding,butalsoallotheraccessible, conductivestructuralpartssuchasbuilding construction,metalcontainers,pipingetc.Extraneous conductivepartswhichdonotbelongtothestructure orinstallationofthesystem(e.g.doorframes,window frames)neednotbeincorporatedintotheequipotential bonding.Thisalsoappliestohousingsiftheirmethodof fixingprovidesreliablecontactwithstructuralpartsfor pipingalreadyinvolvedinequipotentialbonding.The connectionsforequipotentialbondingmustbereliable, e.g.usingsecuredscrewterminals.

UniversalPlugandSocketSystems??
TheIECstartedworkingoncomingupwithauniversaldesignforplugsandsockets worldwide,tryingtoensurethatdangeroussituationscouldnotariseduringthe periodswhenthenewsystemandthemultitudeofexistingoneshadtoexistsideby side.ThefirstdraftsofauniversalsystemconsideredbySC23Cproposedallflatpins andthiswaspursuedformanyyears. years However However,atthevotingstage stage,objectionsgrew and,manyNationalCommitteesexpressedthemselvesmoreinfavorofaroundpin solution.Theotherseriousproblemencounteredwasintryingtofindaunique solutionfor125Vand250Vdistributionsystems.Afterlong,andoftenacrimonious, discussion,thesubcommitteecametoanacceptablesolutionwhichwasfinally formulatedin1986aspublicationIEC9061(nowIEC609061)for250Vinstallations usingroundpinsandin1992asIEC9062(nowIEC609062)for125Vinstallations usingthefamiliarUSflatpindesign. Morerecently,inthe1990s,CENELEC,inEurope,wasputunderpressurebythe EuropeanCommissiontodeviseaharmonizedplugandsocketsystemforEurope. CENELECtookasitsstartingpointtheIECstandardof1986andspentthousandsof manhoursundertakingthealmostimpossibletaskofmodifyingthedesignwiththe aim i of fensuring i 100%risk i kfree f operation ti of fthe th system t when h used din i conjunction j ti withalltheexistingtypesinEurope.Naturally,apartfromthetechnicaldifficulties, therewastheclashofthemanyvestedcommercialandpoliticalinterestsanditwas notsurprisingthat,aftermuchworkandmanymeetings,CENELEChadtoadmit defeatandabandonitsefforts.