It is needless to mention that proper earthing for I&C system is essential for trouble-free operation (including DCS, PLC,

instruments etc.) Electronic Equipments such as, electronic device, instrumentation & control system, automation system etc. should be properly earthed for various reasons for example: personal safety, equipment protection, noise suppression, frequency-distortion and/or mal-function. For a microprocessor/electronic circuit, true zero (0V) potential is essential at its ground point (bus) for proper function. But the actual ground potential at this point cannot be kept constant at 0Volt, if the grounding arrangement is not done properly and thus the ground potential (volt) will vary with leakage current, shortcircuit, unbalanced (3-phase) neutral current, system, lighting strike and/or transient surges in the external power supply system. The grounding (earthing) system for I&C or automation system is divided into two types: (1) safety ground (earth) and (2) electronic/system ground (earth). The safety ground is necessary for personal or equipment safety to protect from shock or high voltage damage from leakage or short circuit. The system or electronic ground is necessary to supply the true 0V potential according to the design and correct function of an electronic device/circuit, such as operation amplifier. It is also necessary for screen grounding of instrument cables that carry low current/voltage signals, so that electric interference from external electric field/noise could be minimized. The detail grounding arrangement has been explained in the various textbooks, instrument manuals, handbooks etc. For ready information on the electronic grounding system adopted to the thermal power plants, you may refer to "Modern Power Station Practice-British Electricity Generating Board(earlier CEGB)"- both Electrical (Cable chapter) volume and I&C volume.

Here is one good article regarding Grounding. There is a widespread misconception regarding the relation between grounding and safety of personnel. It goes back to a false ancient slogan which read: "If it is not grounded, it is not safe!" That slogan was coined by electricians and linemen during the days of the infancy of power systems. The fallacy of the above slogan arises from two misconceptions: a) That VOLTAGE kills! The truth of the matter is that voltage itself kills nobody! This is most evident in the bare-hand live-line maintenance work widely done these days by most power companies. Just go and watch a lineman being lifted by an insulated-boom crane, being placed in contact with the 500 kV wires of an overhead power line, then left there to repair damage to components of the power line (spacer-dampers, aircraft warning marker balls, insulators, etc.). In the above case, the lineman would be holding a 500 kV wire in his bare hand, yet he is both safe and comfortable! b) That the voltage of a grounded object or wire will remain zero, thus making it safe to touch! The truth of the matter is that any practical grounding point available to us has a finite (not zero) resistance relative to that reference ground body which always remains at zero potential. As a result, a so-called "ground potential rise"

(GPR) occurs every time we discharge a current into the ground. For example, the flow of a short circuit current (or a lightning current) of only 2,000 Ampere into a grounding resistance of only 5 ohms would generate a GPR of 10,000 volts. Exposing the real killer! What really kills people is not the voltage of the object they are contacting, but rather the flow of CURRENT through their bodies. I realize that this may sound academic to a layman. Actually, when I tried to explain the matter to my own wife, she said: "Thanks for telling me that I was killed by the current and not the voltage!" However, understanding the requirements for safety, and building safe systems, rests on distinguishing the difference. For a current to flow in the body of a person, a VOLTAGE DIFFERENCE has to exist between two points which he is contacting with different parts of his body. It is called a "touch voltage" when the person touches an object which is at a different potential from that of the surface of the ground on which he is standing. And it is called a "step voltage" when the feet of the person are apart (as he walks), and the flow of current through the ground generates a difference in voltage between the two points of the surface of the ground which he is contacting. How to achieve safety The ideal way would be by eliminating any voltage difference between all the points which are likely to be contacted by the different parts of the body of the person. In other words, by creating an "equipotential zone". The absolute voltage itself of that zone does not matter. In the case of the live-line bare-hand work mentioned above, the lineman is standing in a bucket held by the insulated boom of the crane, and that bucket is bonded (for the duration of the work) to the 500 kV wire. This way, the feet of the lineman and his hands are all at the same potential, which is the potential of the 500 kV wire. No current whatsoever is flowing into that zone by virtue of the insulation of the boom. The above equipotential zone was not created by grounding, but rather by BONDING all the points which the lineman is likely to contact, namely, the bucket in which he is standing and the wire which he is working on. In situations involving the surface of the ground, safety is again created by bonding together all the different points within the work/activity zone, and not by the connection between that zone and the ground. Unfortunately, as compared to the live-line bare-hand work situation, such systems are subject to the flow of short-circuit and other currents. Since the resistances of the bonding wires are not zeros but rather finite quantities, it is impossible to create a true equipotential zone. (Nevertheless, it is still called "an equipotential zone" by many, even though this is a misnomer.) Hence we settle for creating a zone within which the voltage differences are minimal, the objective being to limit the body current to a level which is not hazardous. As the above discussion indicates, safety depends on the bonding wires having low resistances, i.e. large cross sections, so as to minimize the voltage drops within the so-called "equipotential zone". On the other hand, the magnitude of the resistance through which that zone is grounded does not matter. The voltage drop which may appears across that resistance (the GPR) can be compared to the voltage of the wire in the above live-line bare-hand work example. It makes no difference whether

it was 500 kV or 230 kV. So why does the grounding resistance sometime appears to impact personnel safety? It is because no attempt was made at all to create an equipotential zone for personnel. As a result, their feet could be at a remote ground relative to that in which the surge current is being discharged, while their hands, or other part of the body, may be contacting an object which is subject to the GPR. In this haphazard un-engineered situation, the risk would be higher when the GPR is higher, i.e. when the grounding resistance is higher. There is no guarantee, however, that personnel would be safe in such a case even if the grounding resistance was reduced. The design procedure of electric substations best elucidates the above point. Grounding is accomplished via a grid of buried horizontal conductors covering the area of the substation. The grounding resistance is mainly governed by the total area covered by the grid and, of course, by soil resistivity. On the other hand, the touch and step voltages are mainly governed by the spacing between conductors of the grid, i.e. the so-called "mesh size". Since the mesh size is independent of the total area of the grid, we can have a situation in which personnel are not safe even though the GPR is low and equipment is protected. Similarly, personnel can be made safe even though the GPR is high. In the case of a high grounding resistance, another hazard to both personnel and property is often encountered due to lack of bonding of metallic objects which are near the down conductors in which a lightning current is flowing. The risk of arcing to such floating objects, and the related risk of injury to personnel and damage to property, would be greater when the GPR is higher, i.e. when the grounding resistance is higher. The effect of the high grounding resistance in this case is not to create the hazard, but rather to aggravate the effects of a design deficiency. For such arcing could still have occurred in the case of a lower grounding resistance when a higher amplitude lightning stroke is encountered. The arcing mentioned above sometimes creates a variation of the touch voltage situation: the so-called side flash occurring to the head or body of a person who is standing close to a tree which is struck by lightning. In such cases, the contact is not created by physically contacting the "energized" object, but rather by being "within arcing distance" from it. That form of "contact" has long been recognized in power systems with the advent of higher voltage systems with their high electric fields. In contrast, contact did not occur in the lower voltage systems, e.g. the 120/220 volt at homes unless the person physically touched an exposed live wire. Achieving Safety in Grounded Situations Since a true equipotential zone cannot be created, shocks are permitted to occur in grounded situations provided that they are within "safe limits". The most widely used criterion for safety in dealing with short circuit conditions is to limit the body current to below what would cause fibrillation of the heart. Many years ago, Dalziel gave us an equation for magnitude of the body current which would cause this, in terms of the duration of that current. Dalziel's equation tells us that the body can survive higher currents if their duration was shorter. Hence a cornerstone of safety in power systems is to ensure that circuit breakers will operate quickly to

interrupt the short-circuit current. In high voltage systems, a short circuit is usually interrupted within 6 cycles of the 60 Hz supply, i.e. within about 0.1 seconds. In low voltage distribution systems, it may take a whole 1 second to interrupt the short-circuit current. Luckily, those systems usually produce lower short circuit currents, thus mitigating the effect of the longer duration of the short-circuit current. While the magnitudes of the step and touch voltages generated by the discharge of currents into the ground are usually beyond our control, we can make a person withstand them safely by decreasing the related body currents. This is usually done by putting a high resistance in series with his body. Insulating boots and/or gloves can accomplish this in occupational exposure situations. Another method which applies to all persons is by adding a top soil layer having high resistivity. Crushed rock and asphalt are used for that purpose, the first material being most widely used in electric substations. The body is more sensitive to touch voltages as compared to step voltages. The reason is that the path of the current from hand-to-feet involves the heart. On the other hand, this does not occur when current flows from one foot to the other. Hence there will be many cases where the step voltage can be made safe but not the touch voltage. In that case, the touch voltage situation may be prevented by fencing off the offending object or providing some other barrier.