Placement standard research of auxiliary probes when measuring ground impedance

Among ground impedance measurement methods, the fall-of-potential method is the most thorough and reliable method. In the fall-of-potential method, ground electrode and auxiliary probes are placed in a straight line, and then, auxiliary potential probe is moved away from the ground electrode. The point at which plotted resistance curve flattens out is taken as right position of auxiliary potential probe. However, in some cases, it is hard to place ground electrode and auxiliary probes in a straight line. Therefore, we provided alternative placement method in this research. The method can be easily applicable to placing auxiliary probes. Also, this paper analyzed and compared ground impedance measurement standards of large grounding systems. Based on the analysis, practical measurement method using an earth tester was proposed. The proposed methods presented in this paper will be useful when determining locations of auxiliary probes in alternative positions, and the methods can be applied practically and easily.