Guidelines for Grounding (Earthing) Bently Nevada Rotating

Machinery Systems
Connections between system common and earth ground must occur at earth ground points of equal
voltage potential. Following this set of guidelines will help minimize ground loop generated noise
problems. Diagrams for grounding the following Bently Nevada products: 3300, 7200 and 9000 Vibration
Monitors with proximity, velocity, thermocouple or RTD inputs, are included.

General Practice
Connections between system common and earth ground must occur at earth ground points of equal
voltage potential. Usually this is most easily accomplished by connecting system common to earth ground
at a single point. That point is usually at the instrument rack or, for intrinsically safe systems, at the barrier
"earth'' ground bus bar.
These guidelines, in conjunction with good engineering judgement, should result in minimization of
ground loop generated noise problems.

General Review
In the past, it has been standard practice to earth ground the system at each Proximitor. Unless special
provisions were made, this occurred automatically since the Proximitor case was internally connected to
common, and the standard mounting plate was electrically connected to the housing, which was generally
earth grounded.
On small systems, such as a skid-mounted or packaged machinery trains with locally-mounted monitors,
or in plants where effective potential equalizing cables are in use, earth grounding at the Proximitor
usually is satisfactory. However, on large monitoring systems with long distances between monitored
machines, earth grounding of each Proximitor may create ground loop problems. A ground loop occurs
when two remote points of a circuit are connected to non-identical grounds, i.e. a potential difference
exists between them. There have been many cases where a significant potential difference existed
between earth grounds at different machines. In this situation (figure 1), the system common conductors
become potential equalizing conductors. The resulting current passing through the common conductor's
resistance develops a voltage that adds to the signal voltage and results in noise seen by the monitor.
The equivalent circuit in figure 1 and the resulting equation show the noise, which can result. For
example, if the difference in grounds is 2 V p-p (0.7 Vrms) and the cable length between the Proximitor
and monitor is the same for each channel, the indicated reading due entirely to the ground loop on a
vibration monitor with a 200 mV/mil input would be 5 mils p-p.
Another potential problem is the situation where the monitor signal common test points can be at
excessive voltage levels relative to panel or control room ground. This can cause considerable electrical
problems when earth grounded test equipment is used.
Single-point earth grounding at the monitor or safety barrier earth ground bus bar usually eliminates these
problems. Figure 2 shows an equivalent circuit, which shows how the problem is eliminated.

Caution: A shock hazard may be present in monitoring systems which are allowed to "float'' or be
left ungrounded. Bently Nevada does not recommend ungrounded systems.

Figure 1: Example of a ground loop.

Figure 2: Elimination of ground loop by single-point grounding.

Proximity Probes
In order to facilitate a single-point earth ground, all standard Bently Nevada weatherproof and explosionproof Proximitor housings are supplied with Proximitor isolation. The mechanical method of achieving this
isolation is shown in Figure 3. If a grounded Proximitor installation is desired, remove one or more of the
phenolic isolating washers (figure 3) from each Proximitor. The Proximitor isolation kit provided with the
housing is available separately as Bently Nevada Catalog Number 19094-01 for use when Bently Nevada
housing is not utilized. Figure 4 illustrates the field wiring arrangement necessary to achieve the singlepoint earth ground and maximum noise immunity with 3300, 7200 and 9000 Series monitors. As the figure
indicates, it is necessary to electrically insulate the coaxial connector from ground (probe housing,
conduit, machine case, etc.) and ensure the cable jackets are not punctured, since the connector and
shielding is at system common potential and electrical contact with ground would result in a multipoint
grounded system.

The shield should be connected to common at the same point where common is connected to ground, but
not at the other end. One shielded cable (with 18-22 AWG conductors) for each transducer is required
between the transducer and the monitor.
There is an additional advantage to the individual Proximitor isolation method now provided over the older
optional isolation technique. The individual isolation plates preclude a potential fault condition within
intrinsically safe systems. Previous isolation designs did not eliminate the conductive path between each
Proximitor or interface module within housing. In this instance, a wiring fault (i.e., five of six signal
commons left unconnected) would result in an excessive power return current in the remaining conductor.
The new design eliminates this possibility.
It should be noted that with the single-point grounding system, the voltage potentials shown in figure 1 still
exist. However, the potential difference will now exist between the Proximitor common (which is internally
connected to the Proximitor case) and the Proximitor housing (Proximitor common is now at the
instrument rack earth potential). This is unacceptable in an intrinsically safe system. This problem is
usually eliminated by potential equalizing cables between machines and a central ground.

Thermocouples
In addition, it is recommended that where possible, ungrounded thermocouples be used with Bently
Nevada monitoring systems. Bently Nevada's 7200 and 9000 Series thermocouple monitors have
differential inputs with high common mode rejection, but common mode voltages of 10 volts peak to peak
or greater between the instrument rack's ground and a grounded tip thermocouple will overload the input
circuit.
The 3300 thermocouple monitor contains galvanic isolation (up to 250 Vdc) to ensure high rejection of
common mode ripple and noise. Figure 6 illustrates typical field wiring for grounded and ungrounded
thermocouple systems.

Velocity Transducers
Figure 5 illustrates the typical field wiring arrangement for velocity Seismoprobes. Single-point earth
ground is achieved by grounding the cables' shield at the monitor end only. When a Velocity-toDisplacement Converter (VDC) or a Velocity Interface Module is used, single-point earth ground is
achieved by connection prefigure 4.

Accelerometer
Single-point earth grounding of accelerometer-based monitoring systems is similar to that in figure 4.
Accelerometer interface modules are isolated from earth ground by using the 19094-01 Isolation Kit or
one similar to it.

RTDs
Single-point earth ground systems using Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTDs) are achieved by
connection as shown in figure 7.

References

Morrison, Ralph, Grounding and Shielding Techniques in Instrumentation, Wiley, New York, 1967

Note: these parts are available as Isolation Kit PN 19094-01.

Note: Top diagrams are without barriers, bottom diagrams are with barriers.
Figure 4: General grounding practice -- 3300, 7200 and 9000 monitors.

Figure 5: General grounding practice -- 3300, 7200 and 9000 monitors with velocity transducer inputs.

Figure 6: General grounding practice -- 3300, 7200 and 9000 monitors with thermocouple inputs.

Figure 7: General grounding practice -- 3300, 7200 and 9000 monitors with RTD inputs.