Incorporating arc-flash mitigation into the design of new and existing facilities

Abstract

It has been over ten years since the first IEEE standard (Std. 1584) related to arc-flash was released. However, facilities are still being designed and built with little or no consideration to limiting the incident energy levels. This results in costly changes in equipment and time when facility owners require lower incident energies to perform energized work. This paper will discuss how to promote a safer work environment by reducing incident energies. This achieves the use of Category 2 PPE or below at for nearly all locations in electrical distributions systems (including both low and medium voltage locations).The discussion will include design options that will lower incident energies, as well as discuss real world attempts that were less successful.