Essential Guide to Portable Earthing Devices: Design, Usability, and Durability

In the world of line mechanics, safety is paramount. One of the most critical aspects of ensuring safety while working on electrical lines is the use of portable earthing devices. These devices are essential for protecting workers from electric shocks and potential faults. But with so many options available, how do you select the right one for the job? Let’s break it down.

Understand the Basics: Why Portable Earthing?

First off, why are portable earthing devices necessary? When working on high-voltage power lines, there’s always a risk of electrical faults or unexpected energization. Portable earthing devices provide a path for the electricity to flow safely to the ground, minimizing the risk of electrical shocks to line mechanics. It’s like having a safety net that ensures you’re not caught off guard.

Look for Quality and Certification

Quality matters—a lot. When it comes to safety equipment, cutting corners is not an option. Look for portable earthing devices that come from reputable manufacturers and have relevant certifications. A standard like IEC 61230 ensures that the devices meet stringent safety and performance requirements. Trustworthy brands often have a track record of reliability and customer satisfaction.

Check the Clamps and Leads

The clamps and leads are the heart of any portable earthing device. The clamps should provide a secure connection to the grounding point.

Check for features like high conductivity, corrosion resistance, and durability. In the field, these components will face wear and tear, so it’s essential they’re built to last.

Ease of Installation and Use

While safety is paramount, ease of use is also critical. Line mechanics often work in challenging environments, and the last thing you want is to struggle with your safety equipment.

Clamps

Look carefully at the design.

Is it easy to operate, remove, disassemble and maintain?

Do the clamp jaws allow you to break through oxide layers so that a good electrical connection can be made?

Do the clamps have spindles that can easily be operated using a handle or an operating pole?

Do the clamps support the attachments already in your kit such as a bayonet or shotgun adapter?

Would a parking bar be useful on the clamp?

Our clamps use:

• ACME threads to minimize the number of turns to tighten and release our clamps.
• Dog clutches so that the clamp doesn’t spin on the end of the handle while you’re trying to attach the clamp to the line.  A simple pull-back action and the dog clutch is disengaged so that you can quickly tighten the clamp to the line.
• Jaws with teeth that provide a strong, secure grip on materials by utilizing the teeth to dig into the surface, preventing slippage and ensuring a reliable hold.
• Cable saddle clamps to reduce the physical stress on lugs and cable joins.
• Designed with reliability and durability in mind.  Our designers balance weight vs durability with much thought and care.  We haven’t skimped on materials and just cobbled something together.  When you buy Betacom, you’re buying quality.
• Minimize the use of nuts to fasten components.  Less nuts mean less work.

Operating Poles

To improve usability Betacom Earthing uses

• Bright colours, usually Yellow or Orange
• Reflective tape to make them easily identifiable at night or other poor visibility conditions
• Button joints to make them easy to extend and disassemble

Cables

The cables should be robust enough to handle the electrical current.  They should also use clear or translucent insulation to enable easy inspection.  Are they flexible enough so that they are easy to work with?

Weight is often a key consideration.  Cables can be heavy.  Many line mechanics suffer shoulder and knee injuries lifting and moving PEDs.

Whilst an aluminium conductor is only about 61% as conductive as the same sized copper conductor it is also three times lighter in weight which makes it much easier to handle.

Consequently, we favour aluminium cables where the current rating is greater than 10kA for 1 second.

At Betacom Earthing, to ensure the conductivity, durability and flexibility of our cables, we carefully select them by the

• Number of strands,
• Number of bunches,
• Insulation materials, and
• The lay or the length of the helical pattern of the individual wires.

Joint assemblies

Working with PEDs demands physicality.  They need to be moved around and considerable force can be placed on the joints in a portable earthing device set.

Knowing this, we’ve put a lot of thought into how we join our equipment together, the techniques and processes we apply to achieve a highly reliable and durable joint.  These include focusing on:

• Lug designs
• Conductive pastes
• The application of heatshrink with glue lining

Flexibility and Versatility

Different jobs may require different types of earthing. Some portable earthing devices offer interchangeable components, allowing you to adapt to various situations.

Consider investing in a versatile system that can be easily adjusted for different tasks. This flexibility can save you time and effort while ensuring you stay protected.

Betacom’s operating poles use

• A wide range of adapters and tools because they use the universal sunrise adapter.
• Button joints so that operating poles can be easily extended by adding additional sections and then quickly disassembled for convenient storage.
• PVC for shorter lengths
• Foam-filled fibreglass for longer lengths
• Tested in accordance to IEC 60855
• Optional flexi-joint attachment to allow 30 degree bend for better access

Maintenance and Inspection

Just like any other tool, portable earthing devices require regular maintenance and inspection.

Make sure you know how to check your devices for signs of wear and damage. Some manufacturers offer inspection kits and guidelines for maintaining their products.

Regularly inspecting and maintaining your devices will ensure they perform optimally when you need them most.

In New Zealand, the Electricity Engineers’ Association (EEA) recommend that PEDs are inspected and tested annually; and fully reconditioned and tested again every three years.

So that you can more easily inspect our equipment,

• Our cables have clear or translucent insulation;
• The insulation is clearly marked with our company name, nominal cross-sectional area and its current rating; and
• Our junction blocks are made with transparent polycarbonate

At Betacom Earthing all our equipment comes with documentation and labelling that tells users

• Who inspected and tested the equipment
• Certifies that it has passed its test criteria
• When it was last tested; and
• When it is due to be inspected and/or tested again.

Training and Familiarity

Last but not least, training is crucial. Even the best portable earthing devices won’t be effective if they’re not used correctly. Ensure that all line mechanics are trained in the proper use of the equipment. Familiarity with the devices and confidence in their use can significantly enhance safety on the job.

Each electricity network administrator and network maintenance contractor will have their own standard operating procedures you should strictly follow.

Your life and the lives of your team members depend on it.

Pulling it all together

Selecting the right portable earthing devices for line mechanics involves considering several factors, including system voltage, quality, ease of use, and versatility.

By investing in reliable equipment and ensuring proper training, you can create a safer working environment and protect yourself and your team from electrical hazards.

Before you set out for the job, make sure the equipment is rated for the likely fault current you will encounter.

Remember, in the world of electrical line work, safety always comes first.