Design and testing of facilities ground

Abstract

The goal of this manuscript is to provide the base knowledge needed to be able to properly manage the testing and/or improvement of a facilities grounding system. Solutions for static charge problems rely on dedicated earth grounds with a resistance-to-ground typically specified at less than 5 ohms. Simple driven rods cannot normally reach this goal and often do not meet the NEC standard of 25 ohms resistance-to-ground. Proper testing and design will provide quantitative data to the EOS/ESD engineer and reduce the potential for revenue loss caused by ESD faults.