A strategic procedure to limit arc flash energy levels

Abstract

This paper is about mitigating the energy level due to high incident energy arc flashes caused by inadvertent negligence of technicians working with low voltage power circuits. While the ideal solution is to de-energize the system during maintenance, this may not be possible in mission critical facilities such as commercial buildings and data centers, which have to remain energized while being maintained. Existing codes, standards and historically acceptable design methods often assess the arc flash energy level conservatively, leading to costlier measures than necessary. This paper presents implementation of arc flash strategy procedure at the system design level that result in reductions in the arc flash energy level. A cost analysis which compares the cost of the required protective relays and related safety equipment against arc flash with and without applying strategic procedure is also carried out. The result show that applying procedure may lead to significant cost savings.