Power System Protection

SUBMITTED TO:
Jamil Ahmad Khan

SUBMITTED By:
Hasnain Nisar

REG #:
FA17-EPE-014

SECTION:
EPE-8A

DATE:
26-March-2021
 1. Concept of Grounding
Grounding is provided to connect some parts of electrical equipment and installations or the neutral
point of a power system to the earth. This provides dispersing paths for fault currents and lightning
currents in order to stabilize the potential and to act as a zero potential reference point to ensure
the safe operation of the power system and electrical equipment and the safety of power system
operators and other persons

Grounding is achieved by grounding devices (or ground devices) buried in soil. The grounding
devices of a power system can be divided into a relatively simple one for transmission line towers,
such as a horizontal grounding electrode (or ground electrode), vertical ground rod, or ring
grounding electrode, and the other is the grounding grid (or ground grid) for a substation or power
plant.

The grounding device is a single metal conductor or a group of metal conductors buried in soil,
including horizontally or vertically buried metal conductors, metal components, metal pipes,
reinforced concrete foundations of structures, metal equipment, or a metal grid in soil. The
grounding system refers to the whole system, including the grounding device of a substation or
power plant, and all metal tanks for the power apparatus and electrical equipment, towers,
overhead ground wires, neutral points of transformers and the metal sheaths of cables connected
with the grounding device

2. Classification of Grounding
The grounding devices of AC electrical equipment for a power system can be divided into three
categories according to their functions: working grounding, lightning protection grounding and
protective grounding. Further, the instrumentation and control equipment of the substation should
also be grounded.

2.1.Working Grounding

Based on whether the neutral point is grounded, an AC power system can be classified into a
neutralpoint effective grounding system or a neutral-point ineffective grounding system (including
neutral-point ungrounded system, neutral-point resistance grounding system and neutral-point
reactance grounding system). In order to reduce the operating voltage on the insulation of the
power apparatus, the neutralpoints of power systems of 110 kV and above are solidly grounded.
This grounding mode is called a working grounding

Figure 1: Solid grounding of a low-voltage distribution system

When the insulation of electrical equipment fails, its enclosure becomes live and a person will
suffer an electric shock if he or she contacts its enclosure. In order to guarantee personal safety,
the enclosures of all electrical equipment should be grounded. This kind of grounding is called
protective grounding

Figure 2: Ungrounded low-voltage distribution system

2.3.Lightning Protection Grounding

In order to prevent the hazard of lightning to power systems and human beings, lightning rods,
shielding wires, surge arresters and other lightning protection equipment are usually adopted. Such
lightning protection equipment should all be connected to suitable grounding devices to lead the
lightning current into the earth. This kind of grounding is called lightning protection grounding.
The lightning current through the lightning protection grounding device is huge and can reach
hundreds of kilo-amperes, but it has a very short duration, tens of microseconds in general.

2.4.Signal Reference Grounding

A large number of instrumentation and control devices based on solid electronic devices are widely
used in modern power systems, but these devices need a signal reference point when in operation.
Signal reference grounding plays a very important role in making sure that the electronic devices
and the computer control system work regularly. But in the modern power system, it is very
difficult to provide a pure signal reference ground without interference. So, how to improve the
anti-interference ability of the signal ground is one of the important issues that should be
considered during signal ground design. From the functional point of view, the signal reference
grounding is a kind of special working grounding

3. Purpose of Grounding
3.1.Reducing Insulation Level of Electrical Equipment.

As mentioned earlier, the working grounding formed by grounding the power system neutral point
can decrease the operating voltage on the power apparatus and thereby reduces the insulation level
of the power apparatus.
 3.2.Ensuring Safe Operation of Power System.

The grounding resistance of transmission line towers must be lower than a certain value to reduce
the potential difference between the transmission tower top and the phase conductor. A value of
less than 50% of the impulse flashover voltage of the insulator can guarantee the safe operation of
transmission lines. If the grounding resistance is too large, it could possibly cause a tower top
potential which is high enough to trigger an insulators string flashover and a power outage might
happen

3.3.Ensuring Personal Safety.

As mentioned above, the protective grounding is intended to make the enclosures of all electrical
equipment grounded. When damage or the aging of equipment insulations make the enclosures
live, it can ensure the safety of any person who contacts the shell of the equipment. However, the
grounding devices of substations can make sure that the personal touch voltage and step voltage
meet the desired safety requirements by reducing the grounding resistance and taking voltage
equalization measures. The touch voltage is the potential difference between one hand and one
foot when a person contacts the equipment shell or metal components under power system failure,
while the step voltage is the potential difference between two feet.

3.4.Eliminating Electrostatic Accidents.

Static electricity may cause an explosion and fire, and oil storage tanks and natural gas pipelines
are particularly susceptible to an explosion caused by electrostatic discharge. Further, static
electricity may interfere with the normal work of solid electronic devices. Through grounding, the
static charges generated and collected by friction and other factors can be released to the earth as
soon as possible to prevent accidents and damage caused by static interference.

3.5.Detecting Ground Faults.

In order to ensure personal and property safety, leakage breakers and other fault leakage protection
devices are used in low-voltage circuits. If a ground fault happens at one point in the circuit, there
must be a very large ground fault current to bring the protection device into action. In order to
meet this condition, the neutral point on the secondary side of the step-down transformer should
be grounded.

Figure 3: Grounding of the enclosure of electrical equipment to ensure the protection device is triggered
 3.6.Function Grounding.

Some equipment needs to be grounded functionally, for example cathodic protection makes use of
electrochemistry to prevent metal corrosion. In order to make the corrosion current flow into the
earth, the cathodic protection system should be grounded. Additionally, a reference point with a
stable potential must be adopted to ensure the regular operation of computers and other electrical
equipment, which can be achieved by grounding.

4. References
1. He, J.L., Zhang, B.P., Kang, P. et al. (2008) Lightning impulse breakdown characteristics of
frozen soil. IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 23 (4), 2216–2223.

2. Li, A.M. and Xie, G.R. (1990) The basic study on the characteristics of soil resistivity at low
temperature (in Chinese). High Voltage Engineering 3, 15–17.

3. Gu, Z.W., Wang, S.J., and Huang, Y.Z. (1982) Experimental study on conductivity of frozen
soil. Proceedings of the Symposium on Glaciology and Cryopedology held by the Geographical
Society of China, Beijing, Science Press, Beijing.

4. Tagg, G.F. (1964) Earth Resistances, George News, London.

5. Xie, G.R. (1991) Grounding Technique of Power System, China Hydraulic and Electrical
Engineering Press, Beijing