GROUNDED NEUTRAL

Dr. S. THANGALAKSHMI
EEE DEPARTMENT
MOHAMED SATHAK A.J. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CHENNAI
 Grounding System
The earthing or grounding is nothing but the connection of neutral
point if the supply system to the general mass of earth in such a way
that immediate discharge of electricity can take place without danger.
When grounding is provided then it ensures the safety of personnel
against electrical shocks and avoids accidents. The equipment is also
protected against lighting and voltage surges. The voltage stress on
lines is reduced along with that on the equipment with respect to earth
under abnormal conditions.
With earthing, the earth fault currents are controlled for protective
relays.
These are two ways in which the three phase systems can be operated.
These are viz. with isolated neutral and with earthed neutral.
But presently isolated neutral system is not used as with such system
during fault, large transient voltages with magnitude several times
that of normal value is produced which may cause breakdown of
insulation. This results in damage of the concerned equipment and
interruption of the supply system. When the system is under earth
fault on one of the phases, the remaining two healthy phases will
continue supplying load for a shorter period.
System grounding is of two types:
Effective grounding: Effective grounding is also called solid
grounding that is without resistance or reactance. In this case co-
efficient of earthing is less than 80%
Non effective grounding: When neutral to earth connection is made
through resistance or reactance than the system is said to be non-
effectively grounded. In this case coefficient of earthing is greater
than 80%
Coefficient of Earthing (CoE) is the ratio which is measured during
single phase to ground fault:
Ce = Highest phase to ground voltage of healthy phase / Phase to
phase voltage
Earthed Neutral System : In this system, the neutral is earthed either
directly or through resistance or reactance depending on the
requirement. Thus the system neutral can be grounded effectively or
non-effectively. In effectively grounded system, the neutral is
grounded directly and hence it is called solid grounding. Following
methods are adopted for non-effectively grounded systems.
i) Resistance earthing
ii) Reactance earthing
iii) Arc supression coil or resonant earthing
iv) Voltage transformer earthing
v) Earthing transformer
The advantages of neutral earthing are as follows,
i) The arcing grounds are prevented from occurring by employing
suitable switchgears.
ii) As the neutral point is not shifted in this system, the voltages of
healthy phases remains nearly constant.
iii) The static charges which are induced are grounded immediately
and are thus prevented from causing any disturbance.
iv) The faulty part of the system can be isolated from the remaining
system with the help of earth fault relays.
v) The magnitude of transient voltage is small in this system.
vi) The discriminative type fault indicator can be installed on such
systems.
vii) This system is more reliable, provides safety to personnel and
equipment with reduced operational and maintenance cost than
ungrounded system.
To determine the earthing mode a compromise between three
following requirements should be made:
1. Damping the over voltages
2. Limiting damage & disturbances caused by earth fault
3. Providing simple selective protection devices
 Solid Grounding or Effective
Grounding
In this method of earthing, neutral is directly connected to earth
by a metallic connection or a wire of negligible resistance and
reactance. The charging currents flows through the system under
normal condition similar to ungrounded system.
Because of the connection of system neutral point to earth, it
always remains at earth potential at all operating conditions and
under faulty conditions voltage of healthy phase will not exceed.
The solid grounding us represented in the Fig. below.
Solid Grounding or Effective
Grounding
Whenever there is earth fault on any one phase (phase B in this case),
the phase to earth voltage of faulty phase is zero while voltage to
earth of the remaining two healthy phases will be normal phase
voltages as neutral in this case is not shifted. The phasor diagram
corresponding to this condition is shown in the Fig.
Let the capacitive currents flowing in the healthy phases be IR and
IY. the resultant capacitive current is vector sum of IR and IY. The
alternator in addition to capacitive current also provides the fault
current. This current flows from fault point through faulty phase
and then return to the alternator through earth and neutral
connection. The resistance of earth fault is negligible. The
magnitude of fault current after the analysis is given by,
This current is mainly dependent on zero sequence impedance of
the source of power and that of phase conductor upto fault point.
As the resistive component of zero sequence impedance is
normally negligible, the fault current which is large can be assumed
as lagging the fault phase voltage by 90o. From the phasor diagram,
it can be seen that IF and IC are exactly opposite due to which
capacitive current is neutralized by high fault current which
eliminates the possibility of arcing grounds and over voltages. The
discriminative types of switchgears may be used in this method.
Followings are disadvantages of this method,
i) Due to high value pf fault currents, the system may become
unstable and there will be greater interference to neighbouring
circuits. Thus this method is employed where system impedance is
sufficiently large to limit fault current.
ii) With high values of fault currents, circuit breakers are difficult
to handle and heavy contacts are to be provided in the circuit
breakers.
The above disadvantages can be overcome by employing high
rupturing capacity and high speed circuit breakers along with fast
operating relays.
This method is used in high voltage systems with voltages below
33 kV with total capacity not exceeding 5000 KVA for the
economic reasons.
Resistance Grounding
Advantages
Reactance Grounding
Resonant Grounding/ Arc Suppression Coil / Peterson Coil
Neutral Grounding Resistor (NGR)
Neutral Grounding Reactor Dry Type
Peterson Coil (or) Arc Suppression Coil
NGR