3·8 · EARTH LOOPS:

Earth loops form a distinct part of the guarding system of electrica l

equipments.

Differenee between safety ground and Signal ground:

Most of the instruments have three input t ermin a ls, m a rked

h igh
" (+), log (-) and ground (.l).

The low (-) terminal is the signal ground.

The terminal marked '.l' is the ..__

safety ground.- ""-.J
_ _ ..;s...---

All. ext ernal metal parts of the ins tru m ent are '/connecte d to t l11.s
Po1n:t, which in turn is connected to the ground lead of th e AC uti li ty
Power-line cable. .
 ty ground:
I ortance of Sa1.e •
mp . this ground connect1011 ensures th
· stallation, at ti
_ In a proper m t of the instrument when touched ca one
. d c~ing par s . n tis
of the con u " £ ty margin (42V) with respect to gr , ea
potential above the sa e ound.

Earth loop formation:

. . measuring system are connected to
When two pomts. ml' amed by the part of t h e measuring ground
s ,
nd loop is 1 or . Ystelll
a grou d points and the soil between the two .
between the two groun Points.
n examples of such an earth loop fo
_ Figure 3.58 sh ows a rmea
between a groun de d transducer and a grounded
. measur·ing
.instrument w h'1ch are connected .
by relatively long cabl es,
R1 and R2 represent the cable resistances.

Measuring

,;~ ucer R1 '"_st-,

rument
?:
.--------1 .,___ _

(§J Tr~n Zin

R2

L Earth Loop :__J

-----------81m~·------
- EcmV -=::-
Fig. 3.58: Formation of Earth loop

- The transducer might be a thermocouple or a strain gauge connected

to a grounded object where as the instrument can be a strip chart
recorder, an impedance bridge, an oscilloscope or a data acquisition
system.

- The ground currents and the soil resistivity create a virtual voltage
source Ecm' causirg a current to flow through the measuring set up.

Th us, a constramt. . must be

- arises that accurate measuring systems t
d esigne
· d t O re d uce or eliminate errors due to groun d curren ts5
flowing below the surface of the earth and ground curren
associated with the measuring set_up itself.