Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Earth, general symbol Ground (US), grounding (US), general symbol The earth electrode and its connections
Regardless of its resistance, an earth electrode is not functional Even for safety reasons, fortunately for medical implants, automotive electronics, aircrafts, helicopters, satellites
To be clear :
Protective earthing Protective grounding (US), protective earthing conductor, protective earthing terminal, protective grounding conductor (US), protective grounding terminal (US) The earthing conductor role is to protect people (for safety), so why 2 different symbols?
1) To cancel earth currents, just remove all earth conductors! 2) In voltage, any earth electrode is noiseless regarding itself! 3) In voltage, any earth electrode is noisy regarding any separate one!
Functional earthing, functional grounding (US) Functional earthing conductor, Functional earthing terminal There is no functional earthing in industry !
Frame Chassis Obsolete - for reference only (Why to cancel it?) We need a symbol for local common bonding network. Why not to use this one?
Functional equipotential bonding Alternative names: Functional bonding conductor Functional bonding terminal
Name: To be clear : Exactly the same definition as S01410 ! ! ! No symbol any more for chassis or frame So, this new symbol (2005) be may confusing. Can we use it for Common Bonding Network?
Name: Functional equipotential bonding Alternative names: Functional bonding conductor Functional bonding terminal To be clear : Signal ground (usually called 0 V). May be earthed (connected to frame), or floated (primary of SMPS for instance).
Name: Protective equipotential bonding Alternative names: Protective bonding terminal To be clear : ??? The old meaning of this symbol was 0 V Does this symbol mean frame thereafter? If not, what is its new meaning?
78
125
56
490
Minimum length l1 of each earth electrode according to the class of LPS ( 2 electrodes required)
Soil resistivity
Copper Aluminium Iron
Bad soil
10-8
10-7
10-6
10-5
10-4
10-3
10-2
10-1
10
100
103
104
m)
Conclude by yourself
Comments : Equipotentiality is necessary for safety at 50 Hz. This is obtained by CBN, including PE conductors. A correct equipotentiality is necessary for EMC at all frequencies, from DC to several GHz. This can be obtained up to several MHz by a mesh common bonding network.
Comments : PE conductors are sufficient for safety at 50 Hz. But in a noisy environment, a PE conductor is not sufficient for EMC : a mesh-CBN is needed. In a very noisy environment a metal plate is better. In an extreme EMC environment, a shielded room (or a shielded cabinet) may be necessary.
1
Voltage reference
The Theory
<1V
Control cabinet
250 mA
100
Single point grounding creates large common impedances between interconnected equipments
Equipment
Equipment
< 50 V Equipment
#1
#2
#1
< .5 m2 loop
#2
50 m2 Ground loop
80 Am-1 s-1
Single point grounding creates large area ground loops between interconnected equipments
EMC Filter
Star point
Noise with star grounded caps added at each side of the filter + 12 dB (degradation)
Mutual inductance
EMC Filter
EMI Filter M
EMI Filter
WRONG: Single point grounding for the ground bus (i.e. the PE conductor): a mesh-CBN is should be specified.
RIGHT:
WRONG:
RIGHT: Nothing ! WRONG: Simultaneously accessible unconnected networks, so it is quite illegal (due to a safety issue).
For safety: 2 isolated grounding networks are illegal. For EMC: 2 isolated grounding networks are calamitous
A raised floor loop is not a ground loop Multiple loops are favourable:
- Laying the cables down over the (metallic) ground plane - They lower the common mode impedance - Using cable trays (in contact from one end to the other) - Using shielded cables with connection at both ends - They divide the common mode currents - They reduce the external EM fields effects
100 V
1s
10 V
1s
1V
0,1 V
10 mV IEC 61000-4-16 DC 10Hz 100Hz 1kHz 10kHz 100kHz 61000-4-6 1MHz 10MHz 100MHz
In case of trouble over the limit B , improve the equipotentiality of the installation. In case of trouble below the limit A , improve the immunity of sensitive equipments.
Inductance : L (L 1 H/m)
LAB
A
C D
LCD
For a conductor, the impedance between the ends increases as its length. For a 2D grid, the impedance between 2 points does not depend on their distance. For a 3D grid, the impedance between 2 points decreases with the size of the structure !
100 A Zone of usual total leakage currents for 10 A a 10MW installation Zone of usual CM currents of a large variable speed drive (100kW inverter)
1A
100 mA
Conclusions
- In scientific/industrial installations most EMC concerns appear over 1 MHz. - A single point grounding creates large common impedances between interconnected circuits or equipments. - A single point grounding creates large area ground loops between interconnected circuits or equipments. - A single point grounding creates a large mutual inductance coupling between parallel grounding wires of independent circuits. - A single point grounding is only good for the neutral conductor (to limit an homopolar current flow in the common bonding network). - A meshed common bonding network is efficient for EMC up to several megahertz (possibly > 10 MHz). Such a cost effective mesh-CBN allows grounding of shielded differential cables at both ends without any risk. - Properly connected shielded cables are effective from 1 MHz to > 1 GHz.