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Electrical
Engineering Standard
EP 12 10 00 10 SP
Version 3.0
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RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
Document control
Version Date Summary of change
September 2002 Last Technical Review
3.0 May 2010 Application of TMA 400 format
Contents
1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................3
2 General .....................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Earthing System Design ............................................................................................3
2.2 Equipment to be Earthed ...........................................................................................4
3 Types of System Substations................................................................................................4
3.1 Traction Substations ..................................................................................................4
3.2 Sectioning Huts..........................................................................................................4
3.3 AC Switching Stations ...............................................................................................4
4 Earth grid .................................................................................................................................5
4.1 Electrodes ..................................................................................................................5
4.1.1 Standard Electrode.....................................................................................5
4.1.2 Electrode Spacing ......................................................................................5
4.1.3 Installation of Electrodes ............................................................................5
4.1.4 Test Electrode ............................................................................................5
4.1.5 Earth Mesh .................................................................................................5
4.2 Earthing Connections ................................................................................................6
4.3 High Voltage Earth Conductor Sizing ........................................................................6
5 Equipment Earthing ................................................................................................................6
5.1 Auxiliary Supplies ......................................................................................................6
5.2 Low Voltage Final Subcircuits ...................................................................................7
5.3 Surge Arresters..........................................................................................................7
5.4 Batteries.....................................................................................................................7
5.5 Cable Sheath and Armour .........................................................................................7
5.6 Telecommunications Equipment ...............................................................................7
5.7 Metallic Pipes.............................................................................................................7
5.8 Neutral Resistors .......................................................................................................8
5.9 1500 V Link Area (Voltmeter Rail) .............................................................................8
5.10 Rail Earth Contactor ..................................................................................................8
5.11 Frame Leakage Protection ........................................................................................8
6 Substation Metal Fences ........................................................................................................8
6.1 Clearance to Other Earthed Equipment ....................................................................8
6.2 Other Clearances.......................................................................................................9
6.3 Bonding of Gates .......................................................................................................9
6.4 Grading Ring..............................................................................................................9
7 Supplies to Nearby Loads ......................................................................................................9
8 Sectioning Hut Supplied from Distribution Substation ......................................................9
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
1 Introduction
The majority of System Substations in the RailCorp network are traction locations with
1500 Vdc equipment and so require special precautions compared to standard
transmission, sub-transmission or zone substations owned by Transgrid and the local
Electricity Distributors. Those System Substations that do not contain 1500 Vdc equipment
are interconnected to the RailCorp traction network and so must still follow these
requirements.
This document states the essential requirements for a safe earthing system at RailCorp
System Substations although the general methodology referred to in the document can
also provide a general guidance to the design of earthing systems for System
Substations.
2 General
This document is written on the premise that a System Substation will use a combined
earthing system and will therefore have only one earth grid. There will be rare
occurrences at non-traction locations where a separate earthing system may be a better
option resulting in the use of two separate earth grids for the high and low voltage earths.
This situation is most likely to arise at a small AC switching station with transmission line
feeders where it is not economical to meet all the requirements of a combined earthing
system. In this situation the earthing design principles of Specification EP12100011SP -
“Distribution Substation Earthing” should be followed.
Note:
The fault duration time applicable for calculating acceptable touch and step potentials, is
that for the primary protection to operate, it being recognised that the number of
occasions when the stated time limit may be exceeded due to unavoidable malfunction or
combination of unlikely circumstances is negligibly small. Refer to Section 4.4.3 of the
ESAA Substation Earthing Guide.
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
• Earth grid.
• All accessible exposed metal parts containing or supporting high voltage
conductors, including metal parts mechanically connected to the exposed metal
parts.
• Metallic substation enclosures of all high voltage and low voltage equipment.
• Surge protection devices.
• Cable sheaths/screens/armouring.
• Exposed metal of all floor and wall reinforcing.
• Metallic fences, both internal and boundary.
• Fixed metal items within the substation building, eg door frames, metal roofs and
down pipes.
• Metal pipes, eg waterpipes, within the substation boundary.
• Transformer low voltage neutrals.
The following equipment shall not to be connected to the combined high and low voltage
earthing system:
Note, if the Sectioning Hut includes any high voltage ac switching equipment, then the
design shall be the same as for a Traction Substation.
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
4 Earth grid
4.1 Electrodes
The current rating of the earthing electrode is 5 kA for 1 second when tested in free air in
an ambient of 15 C to 25 C without exceeding a temperature rise of 350 C.
The exact spacing of the electrodes will be determined by the final design, which will be
based on local conditions, resistivity of the area and space available for electrodes. The
spacing between electrodes should be greater than the electrodes’ length.
Although the earth mesh will often result in a low enough resistance without the use of
electrodes, a minimum of 4 electrodes are still necessary to ensure the fault level
capability ie 4 x 5 kA. Electrodes are also required in case of the drying out of the soil at
the depth of the earth mesh in long dry spells. It should also be noted that the electrodes
should be placed around the perimeter as it has been shown that any centre electrodes
will not reduce the resistance of the earth grid significantly.
The test electrode must be placed where it is easily accessible and can be withdrawn
without the need to remove supply from any item of live equipment. The test electrode
shall be identified by painting the word “Test” on the lid.
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
The size and spacing of conductors must be calculated as part of the design process. For
further advice refer to the Electricity Supply Association of Australia guide EG1(95) -
Substation Earthing Guide.
Typical connection diagrams are currently shown in drawing C/79930 which will be
replaced by A3/90093 sheet 6.
Note 1:
The fault duration time applicable for calculating the size of conductors (including cable
screens), is the duration of the back-up clearance time, that is, assumes that one primary
protection system fails to operate. The temperature rise will not exceed the maximum
temperature for the selected conductor size when carrying the maximum earth-fault
current for this fault duration time.
Note 2:
The recommended inputs to the K factor referenced from AS 3008 are an initial
temperature of 40°C and a final temperature of 160°C for PVC insulated conductors, or
250°C for bare or XLPE insulated conductors.
5 Equipment Earthing
It is usual practice to supply the auxiliary services in a RailCorp System Substation from a
transformer (designated auxiliary transformer) whose primary winding is supplied from
one of the secondary windings of the rectifier transformer. The case of the Auxiliary
transformer shall be connected directly to the earth grid with a 70 mm2 copper conductor.
In some situations the Auxiliary supply originates from a supply external to the substation,
for example, a back-up emergency supply in a single rectifier substation. In these
circumstances if the external supply is from the local distributor then the external supply
must be connected via an isolating transformer. Refer to EP 12 10 00 20 SP - “Low
Voltage Distribution Earthing” for relevant guidelines.
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
Irrespective of the supply source, the neutral bar and the earth bar shall be connected
together in the Auxiliary panel switchboard. This shall be the only neutral earth
connection in the System Substation auxiliary supply. The size of the connecting
conductor shall be based on the size of the active conductors from the auxiliary
transformer. The earth bar shall be connected directly to the Substation earth grid with
70 mm2 copper conductor.
In the past, several variations of the auxiliary supply design have been used. Some of
these variations are still in existence, but they should not be used in any new designs. In
one variant used in Traction Substations the earth-neutral connection is made at the
auxiliary transformer. This is undesirable as it can result in circulating currents at two
rectifier locations where there are two earth-neutral connections, one at each transformer.
An older method used in Traction Substations and Sectioning Huts used a floating three
phase 220 V system with C phase connected to earth via a spark gap and an earthed
screen in the auxiliary transformers.
5.4 Batteries
All System Substations require a set of batteries, and battery charger, to supply power for
the control circuits of circuit breakers and SCADA equipment. The dc battery system shall
not be earthed.
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
Any metallic pipes within the substation boundary must be bonded to the substation earth
grid by a 70 mm2 copper conductor.
An earth conductor is connected from the DCCB frame leakage bar to each DCCB frame
in turn. If a breakdown occurs between frame and earth on any one DCCB causing a
current to flow, the frame leakage relay will open a set of contacts disconnecting supply
for the 120 V controls to all DCCB’s, as shown on drawing D/86513 sheet 1. In addition at
a Traction Substation the rectifier, whose frame is sitting on a sheet of 3 mm Cadco
(insulating material), has an auxiliary relay connected into the circuit as shown on
drawing D/86513 sheet 2. This locks out the rectifier to prevent it feeding into the busbar
and frame to earth. The rail earth contactor will also operate, refer to Section 5.10.
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
The screen of the isolating transformer must also be connected to the Substation earth
grid. The connection is to be sized to carry the maximum fault currents that may flow for
the time required for the back-up protective device to operate. Refer to Section 4.3,
except that the minimum size shall be 16 mm2 copper.
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Issued May 2010 UNCONTROLLED WHEN PRINTED Version 3.0
RailCorp Engineering Standard — Electrical
System Substation Earthing EP 12 10 00 10 SP
In the situation where a Sectioning Hut is not supplied from a dedicated Distribution
Substation, that is, other loads are connected to the same Distribution Substation as the
Sectioning Hut then the Sectioning Hut must be supplied through an isolating transformer
located within the boundary of the Sectioning Hut. If the high voltage supply to the
Distribution Substation is greater than 11 kV then a detailed design shall be carried out to
ensure the withstand voltage of the isolating transformer is rated for all possible fault
conditions. The screen of the isolating transformer must also be connected to the
Sectioning Hut earth grid. The connection is to be sized to carry the maximum fault
currents that may flow for the time required for the back-up protective device to operate.
2
Refer to Section 4.3, except that the minimum size shall be 16 mm copper.
Due to the relatively low ac fault levels at Sectioning Huts and the fact that the 1500 Vdc
system is unearthed, the earth grid resistance can be based on the size of the
transformer of the Distribution Substation supplying the Sectioning Hut. Refer to
Specification EP 12 10 00 11 SP - “Distribution Substation Earthing”.
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