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Mansoura University

Faculty of Engineering
Electrical Power & Machine Dept.

SYSTEM GROUNDING
METHODS

By
Khaled Ibrahim Abdulaziz
Section 3

Supervised By
Dr. Mohamed Qotb
1. Introduction
In any electrical circuit network, the circuitry that provides a path between the parts of
the circuit and the ground, is known as the grounding system. The grounding system is
required for reliable operation of any electrical equipment including generator,
transformer, power system tower, and other power system installation under fault
conditions. In a grounding system, the study of ground resistance is very important in
designing any electrical network for residential, commercial and industrial areas. The
grounding is an important for power generation, transmission and distribution systems. In
the transmission systems, each leg of the transmission tower is grounded through a
vertically inserted earth electrode. In an electrical substation, all high voltage equipment
are grounded with a grounding grid system.

2.Objectives of Grounding system


The objectives of any grounding system are as follows: Reduce insulation level of power
system equipment, Ensure personal safety, Eliminate electrostatic accidents, Reduce
electromagnetic interference, Reduce cathodic protection current, and Detecting ground
faults.

3.Ungrounded systems
The ungrounded electrical systems are used where
the customer and the design engineer do not want
the overcurrent protection device acting on the
ground fault line. In an ungrounded system, there
is no internal connection between any line
(including the neutral) and ground. The term
“ungrounded systems” is actually a misnomer,
since every system is grounded through its
inherent charging capacitance to ground as for
Figure 1-1 Ungrounded Delta System winding arrangement
ungrounded system as shown in Fig. 1-1.

There are some advantages and disadvantages of ungrounded systems. The ground fault
current in this system is very low (5 A or less) and provides more reliability during fault
conditions. The voltage between the healthy lines and ground is very high. The effect of
harmonics in the ungrounded system will die out itself within the system. The outside
source interferences are usually neglected as there is no connection with the soil. The
ungrounded system is very poor to protect the electrical appliances due to transient
voltages. Sometimes, these transient voltages elongate to the nearby equipment which
can destroy the insulation of those equipment. In this system, it is very difficult to locate
the line to ground fault.

3.Grounded systems
A grounded system is one in which at least one conductor or point (usually the neutral
point of a transformer winding) is intentionally grounded. There are some advantages of
the grounded systems. These are: capability of reduction in over voltages due to transient,
greater safety for the operators, excellent lightning protection, simplified ground fault
location, reduction in frequency of faults, highest system and equipment fault protection,
and reduction in maintenance cost and time.

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3.1 Solidly Grounded System
The neutral points of high voltage
equipment like transformer and generator
are solidly grounded to reduce the insulation
voltage level. This grounding system is
known as working grounding. The solidly
grounded system is the most widely used
grounding mechanism employed in the
industrial and commercial power system,
where ground conductors are connected to
the earth without any intermediate
impedance. The solidly-grounded wye system Figure 1-2 Solidly-Grounded Wye System arrangement
arrangement can is shown in Fig. 1-2.

This grounding system has high values of current ranging from 10 to 20 kA. This current
flows through the building rod, water pipe and ground wire which might damage the
electrical appliances. The solidly grounded system can reduce the line to ground fault
transients and locate faults easily. Some disadvantages of this grounding system are
severe arc flash hazards, high fault current, observe potential on the equipment during a
fault.

3.2 Resistance Grounding


The resistance grounding system is classified as high
resistance and low resistance grounding systems. The high
resistance grounding system is obtained by connecting a high
resistance in between the neutral point of a low voltage
transformer and the ground as shown in Fig.1-3.
The high grounding system is used in the small and medium
industry applications where continuous operation is required
during the fault condition. The value of the resistance is
chosen in such a way that it allows 1–10 A current during Figure 1-3 Wye-connection with high
the ground fault. resistance grounding

There are some advantages of high resistance grounding. These are, limiting the ground
fault current to a lower value, controlling the over transient voltages, maintaining
continuous operation during a fault condition, reducing electric shock hazards, reducing
mechanical stress in the nearby equipment, and reducing line voltage drop caused by
occurrence and clearance of the ground fault. The main disadvantages are, high frequency
signal may present during alarming period due to the fault and ground fault may remain
present for a long time.

A low resistance grounding system is obtained by connecting a small value of the


resistance with the grounding conductor or rod. The low resistance grounding system is
normally used for the loads which are connected below the 220 V supply and the system
is designed to shut down in 10 s. A low resistance grounding system is more expensive
than a solidly grounding system. The advantages of low resistance grounding system are
lower value of the ground fault current, good control of transient overvoltage, easy fault
detection. The disadvantages are high cost and, presence of higher harmonics.

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3.3 Reactance Grounding
The reactance grounding is obtained by connecting a reactor (low
inductance) between the neutral point and the ground as shown in
Fig. 1-4. The magnitude of the ground fault current can be reduced
to an acceptable value by changing the reactance. In industrial and
commercial facilities, reactance grounding is commonly used in
the neutrals of generators. This reactance ideally limits the ground-
fault current to the three-phase available fault current and will
allow the system to operate with phase-to-neutral loads.

Nowadays, this type of grounding is not used due to the


requirement of higher value of the fault current in operating
protective equipment, and due to the presence of high transient Figure 1-4 Wye-connection with
voltage that appears during ground fault condition. reactor grounding

4. References
{1} Md. Abdus SalamQuazi M Rahman, Power Systems Grounding, 1st edition,
Springer, Singapore, 2016

{2} Bill Brown, System Grounding, section 6, Schneider Electric

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