Place Grounding Grid

This dialog lets you to place a Grounding Grid in the current drawing.

Accessed from:

3D Design Ribbon

Placing the main grid is done by selecting a part number for the Grounding Grid wire ( Wire type), plus welding points for 4 wires ( Welding (X)) and 3 wires ( Welding (T)). The depth of the main grid can be defined relative the Project Reference Point (PRP) or a Digital Terrain Model (DTM). Depth is the depth relative the PRP/DTM.

Connections are wires between the main grid and objects (i.e., structures, fences etc). The connections should first be connected to the main grid, then to the object.

Objects can contain a Hook Point, which helps terminate the connection. A clamp can be added to the point where the connection terminates by enabling the Terminator check-box and selecting the part number for the clamp (in the corresponding pick-list).

The terminating point for a connection can be located by selecting Hook in the Method pick-list. In this case, the termination point will snap to hook-points. Select Free in the Method pick-list to position the termination point at any location. If a clamp is placed in current drawing (and the Terminator option is disabled), select Symbol from the Method pick-list to force the termination to locate the symbol placed in the current file and snap to its origin (i.e., wire clamp).

Setting	Description
Wire Type	Select the type of copper wire you want to place from the pull-down list. The list is populated with all part numbers that have a value of GGWire in the Part_Type field of the parts database record. By default only two types of Grounding Grid wires are available. However, the user can configure standard cables which normally placed above ground to be used for grounding grids as well.
Connector 4-Wire (Welding X)	Select the type of weld (4 wire point) you want to use from the pull-down list. The list is populated with all part numbers that have a value of GGWX in the Part_Type field of the parts database record.
Connector 3-Wire (Welding T)	Select the type of weld (3 wire point) you want to use from the pull-down list. The list is populated with all part numbers that have a value of GGWT in the Part_Type field of the parts database record.
Ground Rod	Determines the type of grounding rod to be placed in the grid. The option shown in the dialog is the default shipped with Substation.
Ground Rod connector	Determines the type of grounding rod connector to be placed in the grid. The option shown is the default shipped with Substation.
Grid	Method - Allows you to place the grid relative to the Project Reference Point (PRP) or the Digital Terrain Map (DTM). Aligned with PRP - Controls the rotation angle based on the vector defined by the Project Reference Point. Rotation is counter clock wise (CCW) relative to the Project Reference Point (i.e., if a value of 10 degrees is entered, the ground grid will be rotated 10 degrees CCW from the reference vector O. If no Project Reference Point is placed, the view will be rotated by the absolute value of the data entry. Depth - Allows you to specify the depth the grid should be placed at relative to the PRP or DTM depending on which you selected. X -Controls the distance between columns and rows in the main grid (in MicroStation units). Y - Controls the distance between columns and rows in the main grid (in MicroStation units).
Include ground rods	When this option is enabled, ground rods will be automatically placed on the grounding grid using either of the following options: At corners: places grounding rod at each corner of the grid. Each 2nd perimeter connection: places grounding rod at the four corners plus at every 2nd connection point around the grid perimeter.
Place grid	Places the grid in the current drawing after selecting two data points (corner-points for the main grid).
Place Wire	Adds a wire segment in the main grid.
Modify wire	Provides controls for adding vertices to an existing wire segment.
Connection	Terminator - If this option is selected, the software will add a user-defined clamp at the terminating end of the connection wire. Select the type of terminator from the pull-down list. The list is populated with all part numbers that have a value of GGClamp in the Part_Type field of the parts database record. Method - Allows you to place the connection by the Hook method which will snap to a hook point on a substation object or by the Free method which allows you to select any termination point. Lock XY path - Enable this option to only locate the depth of the break-point (the break-point will follow the XY path of the existing connection).
Place conn	Places a connection between the main grid and an object. Note: The connections should first be connected to the main grid, then to the object.
Modify conn	Adds vertices to an existing connection after selecting the connection wire and adding break-points to the wire.

Modifying the Grid Connector Symbols

By default, when a grounding grid connector is placed, the symbol displayed for the connector is a generic dot. You can use the Part Database Manager to define a specific symbol to insert at the connecting nodes of the grounding grid if necessary.

Select the Grounding Grid Connector part as shown below, then set a 3D Layout Symbol value for the connector.

When you go to place a grounding grid, you can call out the part number in the Place Grounding Grid dialog:

When you place the grid, the connector symbol will display as follows:

So instead of seeing a plain dot where the cables are joined together, there is now a special hexagon symbol which was defined for that part.

You can then create your own legend on the drawing to define what the different symbols represent.