ERICO Practical Guide to Electrical Grounding - Manual (Page 114)

Practical Guide to Electrical Grounding 106
WIRE MESH
ERICO prefabricated wire mesh is a convenient, efficient
and economical means of improving grounding systems at
large facilities of high voltage installations and wherever
large area communications grounds are required. It reduces
step and touch potentials at substations and effectively
minimizes ground plane fluctuations at communications
antenna sites. This mesh is also an excellent antenna ground
plane, reflector and electronic shield for large facilities.
(Fig. 6-38)
Personnel Safety Mats of prefabricated wire mesh are ideal
safety mats to protect operators against lethal touch
potentials at manually operated disconnect switches.
Prefabricated wire mesh is made from solid wire, either
copper or copperbonded steel wire. The copperbonded wire
has the strength of steel and the conductivity and corrosion
resistance of copper. It is available in either 30% or 40%
conductivity of copper, although 30% is the most popular.
All joints of the prefabricated wire mesh are silver brazed
at the wire crossing points. This method provides joints
strong enough to resist separation during installation and to
bear the traffic of construction vehicles. Like the wire itself,
the silver brazed joints are highly resistant to corrosion. A
non- corrosive flux is used in the brazing process that will
not promote corrosion after the mesh is installed. The
electrical conductivity of a silver brazed joint is excellent
because of the low resistivity of the silver brazing material.
Pipe Swivel Joint Bonding
Fig. 6-35
Static Tie Down Rod
Fig. 6-36
Fig. 6-38
Typical mechanical connectors used in
static grounding.
Fig. 6-37
1 1/2
A
Grounding Book 4/14/99 10/5/99 6:02 PM Page 106 (Black plate)