SCET

CHEMICAL 1ST YEAR

BEE PPT
GROUP-3

EARTHING AND ITS TYPES.

INTRODUCTION TO EARTHING.
 DEFINTION:- The process of transferring
the immediate discharge of the electrical
energy directly to the earth by the help of
low resistance wire known as electrical
earthing.
 According to Indian electricity rules the
earthing is defined as:-
 The earthed or connected with the earth
means connection with the general mass
of the earth in such manner as to ensure
at all times an immediate discharge of
energy without danger.
 PURPOSE OF EARTHING

 To protect any human from shock by the leakage of current

from the damaged fuse.
 To protect all machines and over head lines from lightning.
 To protect large buildings from overhead lightning.
 To maintain line voltage constant.
 To illustrate the purpose of earthing, consider an electric circuit
in the below figure where an electrical appliance of resistance
R is connected to the supply through a fuse and a switch.
 When the operator touches the metallic body of the apparatus (a)
having perfect insulation the equivalent circuit (b), where two are
parallel path are formed as shown.
 Since the insulation resistance Ri is very high no current flows to the
person and flows through the machine.
 When earth fault occurs the live wire directly comes in contact to the
outer body and insulation resistance gets reduced to zero as shown in
figure(c).
 Now body resistance is just parallel with the machine resistance. A
heavy current flows through the human body and feels a sever shock.
 However if the metallic body or outer frame is properly insulated, under
this condition the circuit will be as shown in figure(d) where earth
resistance Re is just in parallel with the appliance resistance R and
body resistance Rb.
 Since earth resistance is very small almost whole current floes through
the earth resistance and no current flows through the body resistance.
 So by these steps the person gets saved from shocks
Pipe Earthing
• Pipe Earthing is the most commonly used method
and is the best system of earthing as compared to
other systems.
• In this method of earthing a pipe of sufficient
diameters is selected whose size depend upon: a)
Maximum earth current of that installation. b)
The type of soil.
• As per IS-732-1963 standard, the galvanized pipe
should not have a diameter less than 38 mm and
length should not be less than 2 meter for ordinary
soil.
• If cast iron is used then internal diameter should
be 10 mm.
• The depth at which pipe should be burried,
depends upon condition of soil and moisture.
• The pipes or rods should be as far as possible.
• For pipe earthing a pit of 40 sq. cm is dug in the
soil and the pipe having tapered casting at the
bottom is placed vertical in that pit.
 The charcoal and salt are filled
in that pit in the form of alternate
layers about 2 meters from
bottom and for a distance of
about 15 cm around the pipe.
 The pipe placed has 12 mm
diameter holes drilled in it so
that water poured from the top
gets easily spread in the media
surrounding the pipe which
helps to keep resistance of earth
low.
 At the top a cement concrete
work is done to provide
protection against mechanical
damage.
 A water pouring arrangement is
provided by a funnel with wire
mesh at the top.
APPLICATION OF PIPE EARTHING
It is mostly used for:
1. Residential areas
2. Commercial areas

Advantages Of Pipe Earthing

1. Simple design
2. Easy to install in good soils
3. Hardware readily available

Disadvantages Of pipe Earthing

1. High impedance
2. Hard to install in rocky soil
PLATE EARTHING

 In case of plate earthing , plate electrodes may

be made of galvanized iron or steel having
thickness of not less than 6.30mm.
 If plate electrodes of copper are used these
should have a thickness of not less than
3.15mm.
 The size of plate electrode should be 60cm ×
60cm as shown in figure,
 Plate electrodes should be buried such that
the top edge is at a depth of not less than
1.5m below the surface of the ground.
 For plate earthing a pit of a 4m is during in
to the ground and earth electrodes (plate) is
placed vertical in that pit.
 The space around the plate is filled with
layers of charcoal and salt for a minimum
thickness of 15cm.
 For connection of earth wire to earth
electrodes, a G.I. pipe of 12.7mm diameter
is connected to electrode (plate).
 For connection of earth wire to earth
electrodes, a G.I. pipe of 12.7mm diameter
is connected to electrode (plate).
 Earth wire is properly connected to earth
electrode with the help of nut, bolt and
washer.
 The pit filled with charcoal and salt also has
a pipe for carrying water from concrete work
to that area.
 This will help in increasing the dampness
and moisture surrounding the plate.
APPLICATION OF PLATE EARTHING
It is mostly used for:
1. Industrial areas
2. Generators
3. Transformers
4. UPS
Advantages Of Plate Earthing
1. Can achieve low resistance contact in limited area Easy to
install ingood soils.
2. Higher Efficiency.
Disadvantages Of Plate Earthing
1. Most difficult to install
2. Should be installed Vertically
 ROD EARTHING
• Rod Earthing is similar to pipe earthing.

• In this method of earthing a copper rod of diameter 12.5 mm

or 16 mm diameter galvanized steel or a hollow section of
25mm galvanised iron pipe of length not less than 2.5m is
buried vertically underground.

• The pipe can be buried manually or using pneumatic hammer.

•the earth resistance is reduced to a desired value by the

embedded electrode.
 LIGHTNING PROTECTION

• When the potential between two

clouds or between earth and cloud
reaches a sufficiently high value,
about 10000V/cm, it results in
ionization of air along a narrow path
and lightning flash.
• The possibility of dischage is very
high on tall tree or buildings rather
than the ground.
• The buildings are protected from
lightning strikes using metallic rod
extending to the ground from a point
above the highest part of the building.
• The conductor has a pointed edge on one side and
the other side is connected to a long thick copper strip
that runs down the building.
• The lower end of the strip is properly earthed. During a
lightning strikes, it hits the metal rod and current flow
don through the copper strip.
• The metal rod provides a low resistance path for the
lightning discharges and prevents its from traveling from
the structure itself.
EARTHING THROUGH TO THE WATER MAIN

• In this type of eathing system, the water main

(galvanized iron) pipe is used for earthing.
• The resistance of the galvanized iron pipes are
checked and earthing clamps are used to
minimise resistance for earthing connection.
• If standard conductors are used as earth wire,
end of the strands are cleaned.
• The earth wire must be straight and paralel to
water main pipe to make firm connection
possible
 STRIP OR WIRE EARTHING
 In this type of earthing, a strip electrode of cross section
not less than 25mmX1.6mm is buried in a horizontal
trench of depth not less than .5m.
 If copper is used then the desired cross section is
25mmX4mm and if galvanized steel/iron is used then
the desired cross section is 3mm2.
 When using round conductors made of galvanized steel
or iron, the cross sectional area should not be less than
6mm2.
 The length of the conductor buried should not be less
than 15m
 EARTHING RULES
 According to IEE regulations and IE rules, earth pin in 3
pin plus sockets and 4 pin power sockets must be
efficiently and permanently earthed.
 All metal casings and metal coverings containing or
covering electrical supply cable or equipment must be
earthed.
 The metallic frames of generators, transformers,
stationary motors etc. must be earth using two separate
earthing or distinct connections with the earth.
 In a dc three wire system, the middle wire must be
earthed at the generating station.
 Stay wires for the overhead electric lines must be
connected to earth at atleast one strand to the earth
wires