Ever been caught in a project meeting and started to think -"what am I doing here?... I hope he/she doesn’t ask me a question. I wish I had found that training course in earthing!"
It's a disconcerting feeling being ‘out of your depth’ or not even in the right ballpark. How are you going to save face?… I know, nod a few times in the right places and maybe ask an open question back, or better still, side-swipe it to a colleague; “what do you think, Stan?” - then run away and hope no-one notices. Did it work? Yes, phew! Great save…Read More
Awareness of step and touch potential, caused by a rise of earth potential, is important for anyone working on high-voltage power transmission and distribution systems above 1 kV.
A rise of earth potential
A rise of earth potential is caused by electrical faults that occur at electrical substations, power plants, or high-voltage transmission lines. Read More
We like to think electricity has been around for years, right? It certainly 'feels' like we should know all there is to know. But as an earthing designer. The scientific community tells us we humans are not good at time perspective that falls outside our immediate field of vision. No surprises here. But, Read More
Well, 2017 was an exciting year for the team GreyMatters. So, at the end of 2016, we set goals on what we wanted to achieve in 2017. The biggest success story which is probably closest to my heart is smashing the previous year's lives-protected by HV Earthing/Grounding Design.
Continuing the theme for lightning design. I was having a technical discussion during a seminar in Germany. The question popped up regarding Lightning design on an AD plant (AD = anaerobic digestion) with long cable buried runs between plant areas - "What about the buried cables?" -
What do we do about Lightning protection for buried cables in Lightning design?"
The question was not aimed at surge protection, but at physical protection of the cables from a direct lightning strike. And before you say 'what!!?' - Yes, buried cables are at risk from direct strike attachments! Read More
A common question on Lightning Protection Design that crops up time and again, is - "What is the rolling sphere method of protection?"
If you're looking for a convenient definition in BS EN 62305. I can save you the hassle because there isn't one! The closest you will get to a conveniently packaged definition is in para E.5.2.2.2 ..
... the positioning of an air-termination system is adequate if no point of the volume to be protected is in contact with a sphere of radius, r, rolling on the ground, around and on top of the structure in all possible directions. Therefore, the sphere should touch only the ground and/or the air-termination system.
Hmmm, not exactly succinct or useful, right? Read More
"Working with GreyMatters has totally changed my expectations of a professional engineering consultancy firm … for the better! Technically, they were on the money! More importantly however ... they kept me updated throughout the entire project, which was so refreshing, and therefore quickly put my mind at ease that things were being taken care of." (C. Turgis)
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