Earthing – The foundation of stable and safe electrical systems

Earthing – The foundation of stable and safe electrical systems
Discussing the significance of having safe earthing solutions and accessories installed, industry users and service providers exchange ideas on constructing an electrically safe environment for their customers.

Earthing is performed to facilitate electromagnetic compatibility between systems and to avoid the occurrence of electrical shock to persons working in the vicinity of that electrical system during ground faults. When a person comes in contact with such an electric circuit or source of electric energy, he/she is prone to an electric shock. In order to safeguard operating personnel and systems from electromagnetic interference due to high-frequency components and electric shocks, it is necessary to provide a path to divert the fault current. This calls for the arrangement of earthing systems.

Implications of power and renewable energy on earthing
One of the most important reasons for grounding electrical currents is that it shields your appliances, home and everyone in it from electrical surges. When lightning strikes or there’s a power surge in a system owing to some complex reasons, it tends to generate extremely high voltages of electricity in the electrical system. If the system is grounded, all of that excess electricity will go into the earth — rather than frying everything connected to the system.

Renewable energy is going to take the larger share in power generation and the share of solar power will be the highest among the current available renewable sources, feels Jitendra Agrawal, Managing Director, The Motwane Manufacturing Company Pvt. Ltd. He states, “Large metal structures are used in solar installation and it is important that the earthing design plays an important part in safety, voltage corrosion and surges due to lightening discharges. This makes the role of manufacturers of earthing accessories very important.”

Jai Kumar Belsare, Vice President, Yash Earthing Solutions Pvt. Ltd. says, “We have a strong backing from our technical and research and development team in fulfilling our commitment towards catering quality products with a warrantee of 10 years against any manufacturing defects. We also specialise in installation and testing of highly conductive, corrosion-free earthing systems as well as lightning protection systems.”

M. Gunasekaran, Technical Director, Gravin Earthing and Lightning Protection System (P) Ltd says, “The company’s authorised early streamer emission lightning protection and surge protection systems protects the buildings and structures from lightning strikes and internal connected equipment from surge currents.”

Earthing technologies and materials for safety of electrical products
There are two types of leakage currents: AC leakage and DC leakage. DC leakage current usually applies only to end-product equipment, not to power supplies. AC leakage current is caused by a parallel combination of capacitance and DC resistance between a voltage source (AC line) and the grounded conductive parts of the equipment. The leakage caused by the DC resistance usually is insignificant compared to the AC impedance of various parallel capacitances. The capacitance may be intentional (such as in EMI filter capacitors) or unintentional.
“We aim at delivering to markets safe, cost-effective, maintenance-free and long-life, CPRI-tested earth electrodes that match the earthing needs of various electrical and electronic installations in the electrical power and circuits. We safeguard the sensitive equipment, electrical equipment, telecom equipment, transmission equipment, solar transmission and distribution lines and general electrical body earthing from fault current and lightning current,” says Gunasekaran.

Belsare says that Yash Earthing has been constantly striving to implement new technologies with help of their highly experienced R&D engineering team. He tells us, “The contributing factor to our rapid expansion in the country is due to development of maintenance-free earthing electrodes and lightning arresters that promote high safety standards.” Depending on the product, the market is divided into MS flat, CI flat, and GI wire. By end user, it is categorised into residential, commercial, and industrial. For safety, market conditions should be stable. There are different types of new technologies for better safety and efficiency such as equipment grounding using conductors, isolated grounding systems, branch circuit grounding, ground resistance, ground rods, and ground rings.

Agrawal tells us that the use of eco-friendly material like Active Backfill Compound (ABC) is used to improve earthing. Active Backfill Compound is a superior conductive material that solves the toughest grounding problems. ABC is commonly known as earth enhancement compound/ground enhancement material/chemical earthing, etc. It is a low-resistance, non-corrosive, carbon concrete that improves grounding effectiveness, especially in areas of poor conductivity. ABC introduces a benchmark for corrosion and electrical performance that has been absent from the industry to date. There are various other innovations in alloys and designs which help in improving the effectiveness of earthing and thus providing improved safety. All the required switchgear and protection as per the application and industry would be useless if the earthing system is not adequately designed or maintained.

Investments to reach market expectations
The global earthing equipment market is expected to reach $7,140.2 million by 2025 from $4,542.3 million in 2017, growing at a CAGR of 5.8 percent between 2018 and 2025. We must have more social acceptance to support the sustainability of earthing systems. For instance, social acceptance increased when earthing systems were perceived to promote climate change mitigation.

The social acceptability of earthing systems can be enhanced further by addressing local deficiencies and requirements. The government should focus more on creating awareness of new-age earthing solutions. In addition, the government should encourage or subsidise earthing solutions and increase awareness for investments and digital marketing as well as look at ways for involving more manpower to boost the market for earthing accessories. Also, increase in the number of construction projects for metro, railways and manufacturing plants are expected to boost the growth of earthing solutions.
Jai Kumar Belsare, Vice President, Yash Earthing Solutions Pvt. Ltd
The contributing factor to our rapid expansion in the country is due to development of maintenance-free earthing electrodes and lightning arresters that promote high safety standards.

M. Gunasekaran, Technical Director, Gravin Earthing and Lightning Protection System (P) Ltd
We aim at delivering to markets safe, cost-effective, maintenance-free and long-life, CPRI-tested earth electrodes that match the earthing needs of various electrical and electronic installations in the electrical power and circuits. 

Jitendra Agrawal, Managing Director, The Motwane Manufacturing Company Pvt. Ltd.
Large metal structures are used in solar installation and it is important that the earthing design plays an important part in safety, voltage corrosion and surges due to lightening discharges.