According to Zest WEG Group, there are misconceptions around what constitutes ‘earth’ and ‘neutral’ connections, and not understanding the differences can create serious problems when connections are made from onsite transformers or other sources. This more often than not leads to earth leakage systems underperforming and compromising the safety of the equipment and operators.
Johan Breytenbach, transformer sales specialist at Zest WEG Group, says that the neutral connection in an electrical installation is designed to carry current all the time, while the earth connection is only supposed to carry current for a short period to trip the protection switch.
Experience has shown that many farmers use the neutral connection as the earth when they do an electrical installation, which is not correct. Current carried on a grounding conductor can result in significant or even dangerous voltages on equipment enclosures. For this reason, the installation of grounding conductors and neutral conductors is carefully defined in electrical regulations.
In alternating current (AC) electrical wiring, the earth is a conductor that provides a low impedance path to earth so that hazardous voltages do not find their way to the equipment. Under normal conditions, the earth connection does not carry any current. Neutral, on the other hand, is a circuit conductor that normally carries current back to the source.
Neutral is usually connected to earth at the main electrical panel or meter, and also at the final step-down transformer of the supply. Neutral is also the connection point in a three-phase power supply to connect cable termination in order to gain single phase power. In a three-phase circuit, neutral is usually shared between all three phases, with the system neutral being connected to the star point on the feeding transformer.
Earthing is therefore a vital part of electrical installations to ensure that circuit breakers will trip under fault conditions. Safe and legal installation needs to start with the selection of the right transformer, with a star configuration to allow the connection to the neutral point. Installation by a qualified and experienced technician is then ideal, to ensure optimal performance.
The correct earthing or grounding of electrical currents has a number of important benefits apart from the main concern around safety. It protects equipment and appliances from surges in electricity – commonly from lightning strikes or power surges – which bring dangerously high voltages of electricity into the system. Good earthing will ensure that excess electricity will go into the earth, rather than damaging equipment.
Half brick second generation converter Vepac Electronics
Electrical Power & Protection
The Supreme series half brick second generation converter from Vepac is composed of isolated, board-mountable, fixed switching frequency DC-DC converters that use synchronous rectification to achieve extremely high power conversion efficiency.
Read more...Multimeters: the perfect entry-level choice Comtest
Electrical Power & Protection
Experience the precision, durability and safety of professional-grade test tools with the entry level Fluke 15B+ and 17B+ digital multimeters.
Read more...What’s driving the IE3 motor revolution? WEG Africa
Editor's Choice
The International Efficiency 3 (IE3) motor standard will soon become South Africa’s legal minimum standard, mandating that local suppliers offer more efficient electric motors. What is driving this change, and how does it affect the many industries that rely on these modern electric workhorses?
Read more...South Africa can become an important EV manufacturer
Electrical Power & Protection
A year ago, South Africa was mired in loadshedding, with the importance and relevance of electric vehicles (EVs) far from the public imagination. Fast forward a year and much has changed
Read more...Self-contained standalone lightning warning system Senseca
Electrical Power & Protection
Biral, now part of the Senseca Group, and a specialist in environmental and meteorological measurement instrumentation, has launched its BTD-200 lightning warning system, which is a complete detection and warning system.
Read more...Taking the pain out of panel building Omron Electronics
Electrical Power & Protection
Panel building stands as a cornerstone of industrial automation, shaping the efficiency and reliability of automated systems across different and diverse industries, from manufacturing to infrastructure. Omron leverages over 80 years of experience to furnish OEMs and builders with cutting-edge control panel solutions.
Read more...Powerless is not an option
Electrical Power & Protection
When the power goes out it is important for commercial and tertiary facilities to be able to keep essential electrical equipment running. UPS systems are critical for transitioning and emergency backup power.
Read more...Securing the power supply
Electrical Power & Protection
Grid management systems are the linchpin of modern transmission and distribution networks. To understand the intricacies of grid management, it is necessary to unpack its core components: scada systems, energy management systems, outage management systems and wide area management systems.
printer friendly version