BEE310

Version

Semester

v1.2

2024S2

Unit Name

Electrical Safety, Earthing and Lightning Protection

Unit Code

BEE310

Unit Duration

1 Semester

Award

Bachelor of Science (Engineering)

Duration 3 years

Year Level

Two

Unit Creator / Reviewer

N/A

Core/Elective:

Sub-discipline

Pre/Co-requisites

None

Credit Points

Total Course Credit Points 81 (27 x 3)

Mode of Delivery

Online or on-campus.

Unit Workload

(Total student workload including “contact hours” = 10 hours per week; 5 hours per week for 24 week delivery)
Pre-recordings / Lecture – 1.5 hours
Tutorial – 1.5 hours
Guided labs / Group work / Assessments – 2 hours
Personal Study recommended – 5 hours

Unit Description and General Aims

The objective of this unit is to provide students with a fundamental knowledge of earthing, lightning/surge protection, and their relevance to electrical safety. Information covered in this unit will include: the earthing of power supply systems; protective earthing; hazards posed by lightning to personnel and equipment; methods of providing lightning protection to structures and surge protection to electrical circuits; safety requirements for electrical workers; and, legislative provisions to be fulfilled in regard to earthing and lightning/surge protection. Students will also undertake case studies of industrial projects and operations in the context to their country.

Learning Outcomes

Explain electrical system earthing and protective earthing.
Bloom's Level 2
Research and explain the procedure for designing an appropriate earthing system for electrical substations and measurement of earth resistance and earth fault loop resistance.
Bloom's Level 4
Explain the need for lightning protection of buildings and electrical facilities and the basic approach for evaluating protection effectiveness.
Bloom's Level 2
Describe how to design a comprehensive lightning and surge protection system for a building and evaluate its effectiveness.
Bloom's Level 4
Identify the electrical safety hazards present in a given environment and plan appropriate risk prevention and control measures.
Bloom's Level 3
Discuss electrical safety legislation applicable in Australia and its impact on the design/operation of electrical systems.
Bloom's Level 4

Student assessment

Assessment Type	When assessed	Weighting (% of total unit marks)	Learning Outcomes Assessed
Assessment 1 Type: Weekly quizzes Description: Students will need to complete multiple-choice quiz questions to demonstrate a good understanding of the fundamental concepts.	Weekly	10%	All (Topics 2 to 11)
Assessment 2 Type: Test (Invigilated) Description: Students will need to answer some short and/or long answer questions and/or solve some numerical problems.	After Topic 7	20%	1, 2, 3, 4 (Topics 1 to 7)
Assessment 3 Type: Practical (Report) Description: Students will need to complete this practical project using software.	After Topic 10	25%	1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Topics 1 to 10)
Assessment 4 Type: Exam (Invigilated) Description: An examination with a mix of theoretical short/detailed answer questions and some engineering problems.	Exam Week	40%	All (All topics)
Attendance / Tutorial Participation Example: Presentation, discussion, group work, exercises, self-assessment/reflection, case study analysis, application.	Continuous	5%	1 to 6

Overall Requirements: Students must achieve a result of 50% or above in the exam itself to pass the exam, and must pass the exam to be able to pass the unit. An overall final unit score of 50% or above must be achieved to pass the unit once all assessment, including the exam, has been completed.

Prescribed and Recommended Readings

Required textbook(s)

Practical Grounding of Utility and Industrial Distribution Systems (US), Revision 2.1, IDC Technologies
Practical Electrical Safety Techniques for Industry (EF), Revision 4, IDC Technologies
Practical Earthing, Bonding, Lightning & Surge Protection (ER), Revision 8, IDC Technologies
Lightning, Surge Protection and Earthing of Electrical & Electronic Systems in Industrial Networks (LZ), Revision 8.1, IDC Technologies

Reference Materials

Number of peer-reviewed journals and websites (advised during lectures)
For example:
Arc Flash Mitigation by Antony Parsons, Ph.D., P.E., a white paper from Schneider Electric Company
S. Alyami, "Grid Grounding Calculations for a 132-KV Substation Using Soil Backfilling," in IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 104933-104940, 2019, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2932447.
M. Nassereddine and A. Hellany, "Designing a Lightning Protection System Using the Rolling Sphere Method," 2009 Second International Conference on Computer and Electrical Engineering, Dubai, 2009, pp. 502-506, doi: 10.1109/ICCEE.2009.140.
M. A. Salam, Q. M. Rahman, S. P. Ang and F. Wen, "Soil resistivity and ground resistance for dry and wet soil," in Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 290-297, March 2017, doi: 10.1007/s40565-015-0153-8.

Unit Content

Topics 1 and 2

Electrical system and protective earthing

Electrical system earthing – objectives
Types of system earthing and choosing an appropriate system for different applications
Earthing transformer for 3-wire supply
Protective earthing
Equipotential bonding
Extending system earthing to protective conductors and system types (TN, TT and IT)
Use of MEN systems by utilities and the benefits
Earth fault loop impedance and its measurement; relevance to earth fault protection

Topics 3 and 4

Earth electrode and substation earthing design

Soil resistivity and factors that influence resistivity
Measurement of soil resistivity
Earth electrodes and common types of electrodes
Applicable codes on earthing
Measurement of earth electrode resistance and earth grid resistance
Electric shock and tolerance to current
Touch, step, and transferred voltage
Earth grid design, earth potential rise, and computation of touch and step voltage

Topics 5 and 6

Lightning protection, surge protection and EMI control, and the role of earthing

Lightning physics and statistical distribution of lightning parameters
Direct and indirect effects of the lightning strike on objects
Side flash and methods of avoidance
Lightning protection of buildings-approach
Evaluation of protection effectiveness
Lightning surges and methods of surge coupling
Surge protection of electrical circuits and energy grading of protection
Design of comprehensive lightning of a facility
Electromagnetic interference, propagation and control
Role of earthing in control of EMI

Topics 7 and 8

Electrical safety hazards including electric shock and arc flash

Hazards in electrical work
Shock hazard and control measures
Direct and indirect contact
Relevance of earthing in mitigation of indirect contact
Equipment of class 1, 2 and 3
Safe clearances and its relevance in outdoor switchyards
Arc flash hazard
Arc flash hazard assessment procedure
Calculation of arc energy and flash protection boundary
Hazard control measures
Hazardous area classifications
Safety in hazardous locations

Topic 9

Static electricity and hazard control

Basic principles of static charge formation
Problems caused by static electricity
Explosion hazard of static electricity
Calculation of spark energy
Mitigation of static-related problems in equipment
Bonding and its role in mitigation
ESD and basics of protection against damage to sensitive components

Topics 10 and 11

Electrical safety legislation and its impact on the design and operation of electrical systems

A brief history of safety (WHSD) legislation
Electrical safety-related legislation
The 3-tiers of legislation
Typical legislation and its objectives
Australian wiring rules-an overview
Safety measures (technical, procedures, organisational)
Hazard control triangle
Design of electrical equipment to ensure safety
Electrical substation safety including hazards in battery installations
WHS procedures for safe electrical work

Topic 12

Unit Review

In the final week, students will have an opportunity to review the contents covered so far. Opportunity will be provided for a review of student work and to clarify any outstanding issues. Instructors/facilitators may choose to cover a specialized topic if applicable to that cohort.