What is an electrical ground?

It can be defined as the set of electrical wiring and mechanical elements (spikes or anchor plates) of fixed installation, which conduct any leakage current that may circulate through our machines to the ground.

What is the function of grounding?

The main function is the protection towards people, since electricity always passes through the elements that least oppose its circulation, and with this installation, it is achieved that the resistance of electricity passing through two different paths is much lower by installing grounding than by the human body. In this way, the current circulates faster through this installation, discharging itself into the ground, and thus avoiding electrocutions to people.

Grounding, in addition to protecting people, prevents the breakdown of electrical equipment, since the leakage current can be of greater intensity than that supported by the electronic circuits, causing them to break.

It should be noted that, in concrete plants, weighing systems with load cells are very sensitive and a poor connection or the absence of this grounding can damage our weighing system, making it impossible to manufacture with our plant.

What factors influence when carrying out an electrical grounding installation?

The main factor that will determine how our grounding installation should be is the type of soil, since the composition of the ground will give us its resistivity, which is the resistance to current flow. In addition, depending on its value, it determines the amount of wiring and ground rods to install, to achieve a correct installation.

Who and how the grounding installation should be executed

As mentioned before, it is a fixed installation, which must be installed on the ground before installing the machine, since it must be buried in direct contact with the ground.

Its installation on the ground is unrelated to the supply of the machine, and it must be an installation company, under the guidelines of a technical report previously validated by the competent authorities, which guarantees compliance with the regulations of the country where it is installed.

This fixed installation must be connected to all the isolated mechanical parts of the machine, as well as to the main cabinet of the plant.

Our power plants have electrical wiring that interconnects with all the electrical elements that compose it, and in turn to this fixed grounding installation, thus helping to improve safety against current leaks.

In the following link  Guide protection installations ITC-BT-18, you can find detailed technical information on this installation and the regulations that apply to it if you are in Spain.