The origin of the term comes from the Aramaic language and is derived from the Aramaic word ' arka ', which translates into Hebrew as ' earth ' and means 'connection to the earth '.
Grounding isan artificial electrical connection between a conductive body that is electrically insulated from the earth's surface and the earth itself.
The result will be that the grounded body will be at the same electrical potential as the ground in the grounding area and an electric current will flow through the grounding.
Instead, through other entities in the environment. Given the possibility of activating additional protection measures, if they exist in the system.
The role of grounding
Its main goal is:
Protect the person from electric shock when the phase conductor touches a metal body.
Preventing contact voltages, step voltages, and potential differences between metal parts from rising above safety values in a short time.
Overcurrent protection . Creating a low-resistance path for short-circuit currents (fault loop) to ensure automatic disconnection by a fuse of a circuit that has a fault.
Lightning protection : Creating a circuit for the lightning current with good conductivity between the lightning rod system and the grounding system.
Protection of sensitive electronic equipment . Shielded connection of circuits sensitive to electromagnetic fields to ground and installation of special grounding bars within the equipment that constitute a high-potential reference point.
Principle of operation
It is essentially an electrical connection between a conductive body and the ground through a low-resistance electrical conductor. Its quality is measured by the total resistance between the body and the ground.
And the lower the resistance, the better the grounding is considered. Electric current tends to flow where the resistance is lower, so if there is a high current flowing in parallel
Through grounding and also through a medium with higher resistance, such as the human body, it will turn out that most of the current will pass through grounding and not through the medium with higher resistance.
Grounding causes the grounded body to be at equal potential with the earth. Therefore, the voltage difference between the ground and the conductive body is always greater than the voltage difference between the conductive body and the earth.
The worse conductor has a connection between it and the ground, so the electric current flows through it and not through the worse conductor.
When the phase conductor touches a metallic sheath, a fault loop is created through protective grounding, element grounding, and system grounding to the zero point of the power source, thus creating contact between the phase and zero.
Since the resistance of the fault loop is low, a short current will flow in the circuit and the fuse will blow, the voltage in the circuit will be disconnected, and thus a person who touches the body of the device will not be electrocuted.
Grounding structures
Four parts make up this system and they are:
Grounding method – connects the zero point of the power source to the ground.
Protective grounding – connecting any device with a metal casing to the grounding bar in the electrical panel and from the electrical panel to the potential equalization bar.
Foundation grounding – connecting the potential equalization bar to the general mass of the earth by welding all the building foundations between them to the potential equalization bar using a galvanized bar.
The zeroing method – connects the main zero conductor to a potential equalization bar.
