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Equipment Grounding

Grounding systems and equipment are grounded for three key purposes: 1) To limit voltages on conductive materials and equipment during faults or surges; 2) To stabilize voltages during normal operation and limit high voltages from strikes or equipment; 3) To provide a low impedance path for fault currents to facilitate overcurrent protection devices. Proper sizing of equipment grounding conductors is important, with minimum required sizes listed in tables based on the rating of overcurrent devices for solidly grounded systems. Short circuit protection of cables also requires consideration of maximum fault currents and cable temperature rise calculations.

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177 views5 pages

Equipment Grounding

Grounding systems and equipment are grounded for three key purposes: 1) To limit voltages on conductive materials and equipment during faults or surges; 2) To stabilize voltages during normal operation and limit high voltages from strikes or equipment; 3) To provide a low impedance path for fault currents to facilitate overcurrent protection devices. Proper sizing of equipment grounding conductors is important, with minimum required sizes listed in tables based on the rating of overcurrent devices for solidly grounded systems. Short circuit protection of cables also requires consideration of maximum fault currents and cable temperature rise calculations.

Uploaded by

Ely Caballero
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EQUIPMENT GROUNDING

1. Conductive materials enclosing electrical conductors or


equipment are grounded to limit the voltage to ground on
these materials and bonded to facilitate the operation of
overcurrent devices under ground-fault conditions.
2. Systems and circuit conductors are grounded to limit
voltages due to lightning, line surges, or unintentional
contact with higher voltage lines, and to stabilize the voltage
to ground during normal operation. Equipment grounding
conductors are bonded to the system grounded conductor to
provide a low impedance path for fault current that will
facilitate the operation of overcurrent devices under
ground-fault conditions.

SIZING THE EQUIPMENT GROUNDING CONDUCTOR

1. For Solidly Grounded Systems: The size of the grounding


conductor to the grounding electrode shall not be less
than given in Table 1. Where a single equipment
grounding conductor is run with multiple circuits in the
same raceway, it shall be sized for the largest overcurrent
device protecting conductors in the raceway or cable.

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TABLE 1: Minimum Size Equipment Conductors for Grounding
Raceway and Equipment
Rating or Setting of
Automatic Overcurrent Grounding Conductor Size (mm2)
Device in Circuit Ahead
of Equipment, Not Copper Wire Aluminum or Copper-
Exceeding (Amperes) Clad Aluminum Wire
15 2 3.5
20 3.5 5.5
30 5.5 8
40 5.5 8
60 5.5 8
100 8 14
200 14 22
300 22 30
400 30 38
600 38 60
800 50 80
1000 60 100
1200 80 125
1600 100 200
2000 125 200
2500 200 325
3000 200 325
4000 250 400
5000 400 600
6000 400 600

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1. ANSI / IEEE Std. 242-1986 Excerpts
8.4 Short-Circuit Protection of Cables: A cable must be protected
from overheating due to excessive short-circuit current flowing in its
conductor.
8.4.1.2 Maximum Short-Circuit Currents: Generally, the subtransient
current of a system is used to designate the maximum available short-circuit
current in the cables protected by the instantaneous overcurrent relays and the
medium-voltage switchgear circuit breakers. For cables protected by fuses, or
low-voltage and instantaneous trip circuit breakers, the asymmetrical current
value is used. For delayed tripping of 0.2 second or longer, the rms value of
the delayed current over the flow period of fault current is used.

8.4.2.1 Temperature Rise of Phase Conductors: The thermal equation of a


copper conductor is as shown below;

 234.5  T2 
2
 I SC 
  t  1.18  10 5 log 10  
 A   234.5  T1 

Where:
ISC = Short circuit current in amperes
A = Size of cable in mm2
t = Tripping time of the protective device in second
T2 = Short-circuit current temperature rating of the cable in 0C
T1 = Continuous temperature rating of the cable in 0C

Table 1: Maximum Short-Circuit Temperatures


Continuous Short-Circuit Current
Type of Insulation Temperature Rating, Temperature Rating,
T1 ( 0 C ) T2 ( 0 C )
PVC 75 200
XLPE 90 250
Silicon Rubber 125 250
Thermoplastic 60, 75, 90 150
Paper 85 200
Varnished Cloth 85 200

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Table 2: Estimated Clearing Times of Protective Devices

A.) Relayed Circuit Breakers, Medium Voltage


Type of Relay
Plunger, Induction, Induction,
Instantaneous Instantaneous Inverse-Time
Relay Times, Cycles 0.25 ~ 1 0.5 ~ 2 6 ~ 6000
Circuit Breaker 3~8 3~8 3~8
Interrupting Time,
Cycles
Total Time, Cycles 3.25 ~ 9 3.5 ~ 10 9 ~ 6000

B.) Power Circuit Breakers, Low-Voltage


Frame Size
225 ~ 600A 1600 ~ 4000A
Instantaneous, 2~3 3
Cycles
Short Time, Cycles 10 ~ 30 10 ~ 30

Long Time, Seconds Over 100 Sec. ----


Ground Fault, 10 ~ 30 10 ~ 30
Cycles

C.) Molded-Case Circuit Breakers (MCCB)


Frame Size
100A 225 ~ 1200A
Instantaneous, 1.1 1.5
Cycles
Long Time, Seconds Over 100 sec ---

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