Define Electrical Ground Loop

The source may be ground loops.

Define electrical ground loop.

Ground loop is a condition where an unintended connection to ground is made through an interfering electrical conductor. A ground loop is caused by the interconnection of electrical equipment that results in there being multiple paths to ground so a closed conductive loop is formed. Electrical circuits may be connected to ground earth for several reasons. Normally the current returns to ground through the neutral wires in the electrical system.

A common example is two pieces of electrical equipment a and b each connected to a utility outlet by a 3 conductor cable and plug containing a protective ground conductor in. In an electrical system a ground loop usually refers to a current almost always unwanted in a conductor connecting two points that are supposed to be at the same potential often ground but are actually at different potentials ground loops created by improperly designed or improperly installed equipment are a major cause of noise and interference in audio and video systems. The physics of electrical flow are more complicated than most simple explanations can convey but essentially electricity seeks to return its electrons to ground that is to discharge its negative energy and return to equilibrium. An electric circuit based on three concepts namely node branch and loop as per definition an electric network is a combination of interconnected circuit elements a network may or may not provide closed path to the electric current to flow.

A formal definition of a ground loop that is very general is provided in ieee std. 100 1991 ieee dictionary as follows. In electrical engineering ground or earth is the reference point in an electrical circuit from which voltages are measured a common return path for electric current or a direct physical connection to the earth. An excellent broad definition is that a ground is simply a return path for current.

Cedia est016 understanding finding eliminating ground loops page 5 1 grounding ac power and safety broadly the purpose of grounding is to electrically interconnect conductive objects such as equipment in order to minimize voltage differences between them. A ground loop is formed when two or more points in an electrical system that are nominally at ground potential are connected by a conducting path such that either or both points are not at the same potential while this is a good general purpose definition it is. According to the ansi ieee standard dictionary of electrical and electronics terms it s a potentially detrimental loop formed when two or more points in an. Generally ground loop connection exists when an electrical system is connected through more than one way to the electrical ground.