{"id":460,"date":"2018-10-03T22:33:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T14:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/?p=460"},"modified":"2018-10-04T08:50:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T00:50:50","slug":"missing-earth-loop-impedance-on-one-phase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/?p=460","title":{"rendered":"Missing Earth Loop Impedance On One Phase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Came across an interesting case recently, whereby the engineers taking care of a particular shopping mall had failed to obtain an earth loop impedance value on just one of the phases. Issue came to light as the electrical inspectors failed to obtain a complete earth loop results for the new tenants that are setting up shop in the mall.<\/p>\n<p>Was called in to investigate if power quality is a factor here.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Background<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n&#8211; Similar &#8220;incomplete&#8221; earth loop values were obtained at the LV Main Switchboard. &#8220;OL&#8221; when measured between Phase L1 and Earth. Had used different sets of earth loop testers.<br \/>\n&#8211; Thorough checks were conducted on the distribution transformer, earth cables and the neutral-ground connection at the transformer.<br \/>\n&#8211;\u00a0 Loads on this particular switchboard include the building&#8217;s chiller systems and some tenants&#8217; loads.<br \/>\n&#8211; Was reported normal earth loop values could be obtained when the chiller system is not in operation.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Recall:<\/em> <em>Earth Loop Impedance Test<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n&#8211; One of the tests conducted for an Electrical Installation &#8220;Pass&#8221; Certificate.<br \/>\n&#8211; To ensure when a fault occurs in an electrical installation, sufficient current will flow to operate the fuse or circuit breaker protecting the faulty circuit within a pre-determined time.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Recall: Earth Loop Tester<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n&#8211; Operates by inducing a current from the <strong>Supply system<\/strong>, by introducing a calibrated load between the phase conductor and the protective earth.<br \/>\n&#8211; And then monitors the voltage difference.<br \/>\n&#8211; Comes in various forms (Multifunction tester vs. Dedicated tester); (3-wire types L+N+E vs 2-wire types L+E)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_461\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-461\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/tns-earthloop.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-461 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/tns-earthloop-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/tns-earthloop-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/tns-earthloop-768x444.jpg 768w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/tns-earthloop-1024x592.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/tns-earthloop.jpg 1260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-461\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Earth Loop in a TNS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em><strong>Findings<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n&#8211; Conducted separate earth loop tests at LV Main Switchboard and monitored the quality of supply.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_462\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-462\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/earth-loop-tester-and-pq-monitor.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-462 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/earth-loop-tester-and-pq-monitor-300x109.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"109\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/earth-loop-tester-and-pq-monitor-300x109.jpg 300w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/earth-loop-tester-and-pq-monitor-768x278.jpg 768w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/earth-loop-tester-and-pq-monitor-1024x371.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/earth-loop-tester-and-pq-monitor.jpg 1404w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-462\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">earth loop tester and pq monitor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8211; Apart from one failed attempt via the multifunction tester, subsequent tests produced repeatable earth loop impedance values across all the 3 phases.<br \/>\n&#8211; &#8220;OL&#8221; when measured between Phase L1 and Earth, used &#8220;K-brand&#8221; earth loop tester(s).<br \/>\n&#8211; VTHD on &#8220;high side&#8221; but expected due to the a few nos of variable speed drives being used at the Chiller system.<br \/>\n&#8211; Phase L1 &#8211; noticed multiple zero crossings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/multiple-z-crossings.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-466\" src=\"http:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/multiple-z-crossings-300x189.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/multiple-z-crossings-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/multiple-z-crossings-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/multiple-z-crossings-1024x646.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/multiple-z-crossings.jpg 1243w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n&#8211; The quality of the supply waveform on Phase L1 affected \/ influenced the operability of the other earth loop testers, resulting in giving &#8220;OL&#8221; readings. An interesting case!<br \/>\n&#8211; Newer earth loop testers do have a &#8216;harmonic component&#8217; &#8211; to cater for (IEC 61557-3:2007).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Came across an interesting case recently, whereby the engineers taking care of a particular shopping mall had failed to obtain an earth loop impedance value on just one of the phases. Issue came to light as the electrical inspectors failed to obtain a complete earth loop results for the new tenants that are setting up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p41TEZ-7q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473,"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions\/473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powerquality.sg\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}