Electrical ground transients are fast electrical disturbances that can affect the ground reference used by sensitive electronic equipment. Depending on the source and electrical system, transient disturbances may contribute to intermittent malfunctions, equipment resets, communication errors, inaccurate process signals, component stress, or equipment damage.
The following frequently asked questions explain ground transients, common sources of transient disturbances, how they can affect microprocessor-based equipment, the difference between conventional surge protection and ground transient protection, and the role of the Vortex Technologies Iso-Line IL-GTT Ground Transient Terminator.
What is an electrical ground transient?
An electrical ground transient is a brief, rapid disturbance or change in electrical potential associated with a grounding system.
Sensitive electronic equipment depends on relatively stable electrical references. A rapid change in ground potential can disturb those references and may contribute to intermittent equipment problems, communication errors, unexpected resets, inaccurate signals, or component stress.
What causes ground transients?
Ground transients can be associated with many electrical events and conditions.
Potential sources include nearby lightning, switching of large electrical loads, motors, pumps, transformers, variable frequency drives (VFDs), fault currents, electrostatic discharge, electromagnetic interference, and other rapid electrical disturbances.
In industrial environments, several of these sources may exist within the same electrical system.
What is a Ground Transient Terminator?
A Ground Transient Terminator is a device designed to help reduce the effects of fast electrical transients propagating through grounding conductors.
The Vortex Technologies Iso-Line IL-GTT Ground Transient Terminator is designed specifically for ground transient protection in applications involving sensitive electronic and process-control equipment.
Ground transient protection can be considered as one part of a broader strategy that also includes proper grounding and bonding, surge suppression, signal protection, EMI/RFI filtering, and appropriate electrical installation practices.
How does a Ground Transient Terminator work?
The Vortex Technologies IL-GTT is a passive device designed to reduce the effects of rapid transient disturbances associated with the grounding system.
Its purpose is to limit the ability of fast transient disturbances to adversely affect sensitive electronic equipment through the ground connection.
Unlike a conventional line-voltage surge suppressor, the IL-GTT is specifically intended to address transient disturbances associated with the grounding conductor.
What is the difference between a ground transient and a power surge?
A power surge generally refers to a temporary increase in voltage or transient disturbance occurring on power conductors.
A ground transient involves a rapid disturbance or change in electrical potential associated with the grounding system.
Because transient disturbances can affect equipment through different electrical paths, protecting sensitive equipment may require consideration of power conductors, grounding conductors, and signal circuits rather than relying on a single protective device.
Can lightning cause ground transients?
Yes. Direct or nearby lightning can produce very large and rapid changes in electrical potential.
Even when lightning does not directly strike a piece of equipment, nearby lightning activity can create transient disturbances in grounding, power, and interconnected electrical systems.
For installations exposed to lightning-related disturbances, transient protection should be evaluated as part of the overall electrical and grounding design.
Can motors, pumps and VFDs cause ground transients?
Switching and operation of motors, pumps, variable frequency drives, transformers, contactors, and other high-power electrical equipment can generate fast electrical disturbances.
Variable frequency drives are particularly important to consider because they operate by rapidly switching power electronically.
Depending on the installation, grounding, wiring, cable routing, and equipment configuration, electrical disturbances associated with this equipment can propagate through power, signal, or grounding systems and interfere with sensitive electronic equipment.
How can ground transients damage electronic equipment?
Sensitive electronic equipment relies on stable power and ground references.
A rapid change in ground potential can stress electronic components, interfere with digital logic, disrupt communications, affect analog measurements, or cause unexpected resets.
Repeated exposure to electrical transient disturbances may also contribute to premature component degradation or failure.
Can ground transients cause PLCs and computers to reset or malfunction?
Electrical transients and changes in ground reference can contribute to unexplained resets, logic errors, communication failures, data corruption, and intermittent malfunctions in PLCs, computers, controllers, and other microprocessor-based equipment.
These symptoms do not automatically prove that a ground transient is the cause. Power quality problems, wiring faults, grounding problems, electromagnetic interference, software issues, failing power supplies, and other equipment problems can produce similar symptoms.
A systematic troubleshooting process is therefore important before identifying ground transients as the source of a problem.
Can ground transients interfere with process-control instrumentation?
Yes. Process-control systems frequently depend on low-level analog and digital signals and stable electrical references.
Transient disturbances can potentially affect sensor readings, transmitters, communication networks, PLCs, data-acquisition systems, controllers, and other instrumentation.
In industrial environments, protection should therefore consider power, grounding, and signal paths as part of the complete system.
Does a standard surge protector protect the ground line?
Surge protection devices are available in many configurations, so the protection provided depends on the specific device and how it is installed.
Conventional surge protection is commonly designed to limit transient voltage between specified electrical conductors.
Ground transient protection specifically addresses disturbances associated with the grounding system and should be evaluated along with conventional surge suppression when protecting sensitive electronic equipment.
Do I need ground transient protection if I already have surge suppressors?
Conventional surge suppression and ground transient protection address different aspects of electrical transient protection.
In installations containing sensitive microprocessor-based or process-control equipment, the grounding system should be considered along with power conductors and signal circuits when developing a comprehensive protection strategy.
The appropriate combination of protective devices depends on the equipment, electrical system, transient exposure, grounding arrangement, and application.
What is the difference between a Ground Transient Terminator and a surge suppressor?
A conventional surge suppressor is generally intended to limit transient voltages on specified electrical conductors.
A Ground Transient Terminator is designed specifically to address fast transient disturbances associated with the grounding system.
The two technologies can therefore serve different purposes and may be used as complementary parts of a broader electrical protection strategy.
Does a Ground Transient Terminator clamp or divert surge voltage?
The Vortex Technologies IL-GTT is described as a passive ground transient protection device rather than a conventional voltage-clamping surge suppressor.
It is intended to address rapid transient disturbances associated with the grounding conductor rather than simply functioning as a conventional line-voltage surge protection device.
This distinction is one reason ground transient protection may be considered separately from conventional surge suppression.
Is the IL-GTT a passive device?
Yes. The Vortex Technologies Iso-Line IL-GTT Ground Transient Terminator is a passive ground transient protection device.
It does not require a separate external power supply to perform its intended ground transient protection function.
Where is a Ground Transient Terminator installed?
Installation depends on the electrical system and equipment being protected.
A Ground Transient Terminator is incorporated into the grounding path associated with the protected equipment according to the manufacturer's installation requirements.
Proper grounding and electrical safety practices must be maintained. Installation should follow Vortex Technologies instructions and all applicable electrical requirements.
Because grounding is an electrical safety system, a Ground Transient Terminator should never be installed in a way that defeats or improperly interrupts required protective grounding.
Can the IL-GTT be used with PLCs and industrial control systems?
The IL-GTT is intended for applications involving sensitive electronic and process-control equipment.
Potential applications include PLC-based control systems, instrumentation, data-acquisition equipment, computers, communication equipment, and other microprocessor-based systems where ground transient disturbances are a concern.
The complete electrical system should be evaluated to determine the appropriate combination of ground transient, surge, signal, and EMI/RFI protection.
Can a Ground Transient Terminator be used with VFD-controlled equipment?
Variable frequency drives can be sources of high-frequency electrical noise and switching disturbances.
The IL-GTT is intended for applications where fast transient disturbances associated with equipment such as VFDs and other high-power electrical loads may affect sensitive electronic systems through grounding conductors.
VFD installations should also follow the drive manufacturer's recommendations for grounding, bonding, shielding, cable selection, and cable routing.
How do I know if ground transients are causing equipment problems?
Possible symptoms can include unexplained equipment resets, intermittent PLC faults, communication errors, unstable analog readings, data corruption, premature electronic component failures, or problems that appear when large electrical loads switch.
However, these symptoms can have many causes.
Troubleshooting should consider power quality, grounding and bonding, wiring, electromagnetic interference, signal integrity, power supplies, communications, environmental conditions, and equipment diagnostics.
Where necessary, appropriate high-speed power-quality or transient-monitoring equipment can be used to help identify electrical disturbances.
How do I protect sensitive electronic equipment from ground transients?
Ground transient protection should be considered as part of a broader electrical protection strategy.
Depending on the application, this can include proper grounding and bonding, appropriate surge protection, EMI/RFI filtering, signal-line protection, correct cable routing and shielding, electrical isolation where appropriate, and equipment specifically designed to address ground transient disturbances.
Industrial systems containing PLCs, process instrumentation, computers, communication equipment, VFDs, or other sensitive electronics may benefit from evaluating all potential paths through which transient disturbances can affect equipment.
Vortex Technologies Iso-Line IL-GTT Ground Transient Terminator
The Vortex Technologies Iso-Line IL-GTT is a passive device designed specifically to address fast transient disturbances associated with electrical grounding systems.
The IL-GTT is intended for applications involving sensitive electronic and process-control equipment where ground transient disturbances associated with sources such as nearby lightning, load switching, high-power equipment, motors, or variable frequency drives may be a concern.
The IL-GTT can be incorporated as part of a broader protection strategy that may also include conventional surge suppression, EMI/RFI filtering, signal protection, proper grounding, and appropriate electrical installation practices.
Learn More About Ground Transients
For a more detailed technical discussion of ground transients, their potential effects on microprocessor-based equipment, common sources of ground disturbances, and approaches to ground transient protection, see the Vortex Technologies ground transient resource article.