Experimental study between galvanized iron and copper as joining cable in earth system

• Main Author: Avylia Noami, Anak Nelson
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2017
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26319/1/Experimental%20study%20between%20galvanized%2024pgs.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26319/4/Avylia%20Noami%20Anak%20Nelson.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26319/

Earthing system refers to buried electrodes to ground as a path of electrons from electrical appliances to flow back to the earth and bonding system refers to connection or cable joined from transmission tower to building and from building to earthing rods. Copper has been extensively used in both earthing and bonding system. However, constant increase of copper price has caused doubt regarding the continuing usage of copper in electrical system in the long run. The increase of copper price has lead to illegal and dangerous activity such as copper rod and cable theft. This study is conducted to find the alternative metal to replace copper for the bonding system. Galvanized iron is selected for this study as it is cheap and widely available. The experiment consists of two set which each set consists of four electrodes and are bonded with copper wire and galvanized iron respectively. The data monitoring had been conducted for 30 days at an open space in Kota Samarahan under varying weather condition and it results that galvanized iron (GI) shows significance difference in earth resistance with difference soil resistivity. Wenner Arrangement method is used to measure the soil resistivity of the setup. To conclude, galvanized iron (GI) wire has a capability to replace copper only if more copper electrode is buried to stabilize the resistance with copper resistance. Besides that, the corrosion rate must be control in the usage of galvanized iron in earthing and bonding system as it affects the resistivity of both system