Abstract
Electrical grounding is an indispensable part of the power system network. The grounding system is mainly affected by grounding resistance and the nature of the soil. High ground resistance produces the phenomenon of soil ionization, surface arching, and back flashover. A conventional grounding system requires the deep digging of electrodes, thus creating maintenance difficulties. This research work focuses on the safe operation of an electric power system from external and internal impulses arising due to lightning strikes or short circuits. The study proposes an application of mineral samples as grounding materials, and bentonite is used as backfilling material in portable grounding systems. A detailed experimental analysis was conducted under controlled conditions to evaluate the performance of selected materials in high-resistance soil. The problem of a deeply driven electrode is addressed by designing the portable grounding system. The study results demonstrate that the proposed portable grounding system could be installed in troubled environments such as forests, deserts, and rocky terrains. To measure the breakdown voltages of the proposed samples, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis and other laboratory tests were conducted. The electric field intensities are extracted through Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The experimental and simulation findings show the expected performance of mineral samples under various operating conditions. The findings of this study can guide the practitioners for safe and efficient operations of portable electrical grounding systems.
Highlights
A portable grounding system is vital to provide the essential safety, reliability, and continuity of the power distributive system’s services
The grounding system is primarily designed for power frequency fault conditions such as short circuits; with design improvement, it can divert high impulse currents such as lightning strikes into the earth
Many materials are tested in literature, such as coconut coir peat, palm kernel oil cake (PKOC), paddy dust, bentonite, etc., and chemical products such as concrete, water-absorbent polymer, synthetic resins, mixed inorganic salts are used as Grounding Enhancement Compounds (GEC) [28]
Summary
A portable grounding system is vital to provide the essential safety, reliability, and continuity of the power distributive system’s services. Lightning strikes have an enormous amount of energy in the form of high magnitude current and voltage and fast rise times They can severely damage the electrical equipment as well as put human safety in jeopardizing situations [1]. It is essential that grounding resistance values must be controlled during the system’s operation to ensure a low impedance path for the surge current to dissipate in the ground in the shortest possible time [7,8]. Many materials are tested in literature, such as coconut coir peat, palm kernel oil cake (PKOC), paddy dust, bentonite, etc., and chemical products such as concrete, water-absorbent polymer, synthetic resins, mixed inorganic salts are used as GEC [28] These compounds show discrepancies in terms of grounding the high voltages.
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