ELECTRICAL GROUNDING - THEORY AND APPLICATION

The concept of an electrical ground is pivotal to the application of all electrical circuits.In our teaching of this concept, we discuss grounding from both a theoretical and practical perspective.Practical knowledge is gained from real-life case studies on the subject.(1) A factory-based grounding plane in a large factory experiences ground looping.This is blamed for a serious accident.Our tests started with a true earth ground and concluded with a mapping of the entire factory, machine-by-machine and outlet by outlet to verify the results of ground looping in a well-constructed electrical environment.(2) A patient is being prepared for major surgery.He needs to be grounded.He is acting as an antenna for many stray signals.Also, static charge is building up on him.The result is a washing out of the data on the medical machines monitoring his physical condition.(3) Even though it is always said that a good ground is necessary for electrical safety, there are 2 cases that we report where floating a circuit (i.e.not grounding it to the earth) is the best and safest case.