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    High Resistance Grounding

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    Donald McLeod
    An arc flash is a breakdown of the air resulting in an arc which can occur where there is sufficient voltage in an electrical system. An arc-flash with a high level of current, in the range 1000 amperes or more, can cause substantial damage, fire, or injury. Current-limiting devices are often used in the design of electrical distribution systems to protect electrical equipment under high available short-circuit conditions.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    High Resistance Grounding

    Uploaded by

    Donald McLeod
    46 views2 pages
    An arc flash is a breakdown of the air resulting in an arc which can occur where there is sufficient voltage in an electrical system. An arc-flash with a high level of current, in the range 1000 amperes or more, can cause substantial damage, fire, or injury. Current-limiting devices are often used in the design of electrical distribution systems to protect electrical equipment under high available short-circuit conditions.

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    HighResistanceGrounding

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    An arc flash is a breakdown of the air resulting in an arc which can occur where there is sufficient voltage in an electrical system. An arc-flash with a high level of current, in the range 1000 amperes or more, can cause substantial damage, fire, or injury. Current-limiting devices are often used in the design of electrical distribution systems to protect electrical equipment under high available short-circuit conditions.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    46 views2 pages

    High Resistance Grounding

    Uploaded by

    Donald McLeod
    An arc flash is a breakdown of the air resulting in an arc which can occur where there is sufficient voltage in an electrical system. An arc-flash with a high level of current, in the range 1000 amperes or more, can cause substantial damage, fire, or injury. Current-limiting devices are often used in the design of electrical distribution systems to protect electrical equipment under high available short-circuit conditions.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Feature

    Using Technology
    to Minimize Arc-Flash Hazard

    by Andrew Cochran
    I-Gard Corporation

    A
    lthough arc hazards have existed since man began using electricity, arcing current of 1,000 amperes that
    increasing deaths, injuries, and property loss from arcing faults have lasts for ¼ cycle can be the difference
    between a worker driving home after
    led to increased awareness of the issue and investigation into methods work and a ride to the morgue.
    of protection. In practice, the majority of electrical
    faults experienced in industrial low-
    According to statistics compiled by CapSchell Inc., a Chicago-based research voltage systems are phase-to-ground
    and consulting firm that specializes in preventing workplace injuries and deaths, faults. For solidly grounded wye
    there are five-to-ten arc-flash explosions resulting in medical treatment occur in systems, the IEEE Red Book (Std 141-
    electrical equipment every day. 1993, section 7.2.4) states, “A safety
    An arc flash is a breakdown of the air resulting in an arc which can occur hazard exists for solidly grounded
    where there is sufficient voltage in an electrical system and a path to ground, systems from the severe flash, arc
    neutral, or another phase. An arc-flash with a high level of current, in the range burning, and blast hazard from any
    1000 amperes or more, can cause substantial damage, fire, or injury. The massive phase-to-ground fault.”
    energy released in an arcing fault can instantly vaporize metal in the path of the The same standard recommends a
    arc, blasting molten metal and expanding plasma outward with extreme force. solution to resolve this issue. Section
    The result of the violent event can cause destruction of equipment, fire, and injury 7.2.2 of the IEEE Red Book states that
    to the worker and others nearby. when using high-resistance grounding,
    With the arc-flash hazard a product of fault current and time, the engineer- “There is no arc-flash hazard, as there
    ing approach to minimizing the hazard is to affect the contributing factors. The
    is with solidly grounded systems, since
    major factors determining the level of the arc-flash hazard are the amount of the fault current is limited to approxi-
    arcing current, the time that it flows, and the distance of the worker from the mately 5A.” The Red Book is referring
    arc itself. The first two of these three factors can easily be minimized during the to phase-to-ground faults. While
    design of the electrical system. high-resistance grounding prevents
    the propagation of many ground faults
    Current-Limiting Devices into full fledged three-phase arcing
    Current-limiting fuses and circuit breakers are often used in the design of faults, high-resistance grounding has
    electrical distribution systems to protect electrical equipment under high available no effect on the magnitude of a phase-
    short-circuit conditions (NEC® 110.10). They are able to protect the equipment to-phase or three-phase arcing fault
    from the significant thermal damage and magnetic forces associated with high once the fault is initiated.
    short-circuit currents by actually reducing the current that flows and the time While high-resistance grounding
    that it flows. Within their current limiting range, they keep the current from as a technology was originally ap-
    reaching its peak during the first ½ cycle. Because they can react so quickly, the plied to industries as diverse as food
    current is driven to zero in as little as ¼ cycle or even less. processing, mining, petrochemical,
    This great reduction in damaging current and time not only protects equip- and even commercial installations
    ment from significant short-circuit currents, but naturally also helps protect such as airports and data centers to
    workers that might be exposed to horrendous arc-flash energies. The difference enhance the reliability and uptime of
    between a 30,000 ampere arcing fault that lasts for 30 cycles and a let-through power distribution equipment, it is also

    www.netaworld.org Spring 2009 NETA WORLD 


    proven effective in significantly reducing the frequency and In the event that a second ground fault occurs prior to
    severity of arc-flash accidents. removing the first ground fault, a phase-to-ground-to-phase
    With between 90 and 98 percent of electrical faults being or phase-to-phase fault can occur. When this occurred
    phase-to-ground faults, by limiting the fault current to be- on original high-resistance grounded systems, it would
    tween five and ten amperes, there is insufficient fault energy cause both feeder circuit breakers and possibly the main
    for the arc to restrike, and it self-extinguishes, reducing the circuit breaker to trip. However, the modern relay can be
    hazard frequency. programmed to prevent this and only shunt trip the lesser
    High-resistance grounding is now being used to re- priority feeder, leaving the more important feeder on-line.
    place solidly grounded systems for the safety reason noted A major safety concern is the loss of neutral path, i.e.,
    above, and there are design considerations that must be broken wire from source neutral to resistor or between
    addressed. Fortunately, modern technology helps incor- resistor and ground or even a bad or loose connection. The
    porate these considerations, making the design process result is changing from a high-resistive grounded system
    straightforward. to either an ungrounded or solidly grounded system with-
    The original high-resistance grounding system devel- out anyone knowing it! This would cause severe safety
    oped in the 1950s and 1960s worked as intended; however, hazards. With modern technology, the neutral path from
    it was not able to solve potential safety issues, such as a neutral-to-ground (including resistor) can be continuously
    second ground fault or leaving the ground on the system monitored for integrity. If an open or short circuit occurs,
    too long. the relay will alarm.
    When modern relays are integrated into the high-re- High-resistance grounding systems do not protect against
    sistance grounding package, these design considerations the less frequent but still dangerous phase-to-phase or
    are easily resolved. The addition of zero-sequence current three-phase arcing faults. However, the combined use of
    transformers on each feeder in the main switchgear and a high-resistance grounding for protection from ground faults
    dedicated ground detection system is all that is required. and its ability to prohibit the escalation of the fault and cur-
    These can be integrated into new switchgear or retrofitted rent-limiting fuses or current limiting circuit breakers for
    into existing gear. phase-to-phase and three-phase arcing faults is an effective
    When a ground fault occurs, the ground relay indicates engineering approach to minimizing the arc-flash hazard.
    faulted phase and feeder. This keeps maintenance person-
    nel away from the main switchgear when looking for the
    ground fault, often allowing him/her to wear lower-rated Andrew Cochran is President of I-Gard Corporation, a leader
    PPE. The reason is that personnel will begin looking for in the application of ground fault relays in the protection of
    personnel and equipment from electrical hazards. Andrew was
    the ground fault downstream of main switchgear where the previously with Stanley, ITT, and Polaroid in operational man-
    arc-flash hazard is based on the feeder overcurrent protec- agement and has qualifications in Production Management and
    tion device, where arc-flash energies are often lower, and not Business Studies from the UK.
    the main overcurrent protection where arc-flash energies
    are often higher.
    In addition, the relay has built-in communications to alert
    personnel if they are not on-site during ground fault. The
    data logging system will keep track of ground faults until
    maintenance personnel have a chance to locate the ground
    fault. This may help associate the ground fault with a faulted
    piece of equipment by coordinating time and day of ground
    fault when equipment is running.
    There is a concern that the first ground will be left on
    the system and ignored. Since the zero-sequence current
    transformers identify the faulted feeder, the relay has the
    ability to begin a timer when the ground fault first occurs;
    this timer is user programmable, usually in hours. Unless
    the ground fault is removed or the timer is reset, the faulted
    feeder is shunt-tripped off-line. The purpose is to continu-
    ally remind maintenance personnel to either remove the
    ground fault or to reset the timer.

     NETA WORLD Spring 2009 www.netaworld.org

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