Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Arc Flash Protection
Arc Flash Protection
Lauri Kumpulainen
Fellow, IEEE
Rockwell Automation
135 Dundas St.
Cambridge, Canada ON, N1R 5X1
jakay@ra.rockwell.com
Member, IEEE
Vamp Ltd
P.O. Box 810
65101 Vaasa Finland
lauri.kumpulainen@vamp.fi
I.
INTRODUCTION
II.
A.
Arcing time
Page 2 of 8
Energy / J/cm^2
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
300
290
280
270
260
250
240
230
220
210
200
190
180
170
160
150
140
130
120
90
110
80
100
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Arcing time / ms
Arc containment
Page 3 of 8
V.
A.
one must also review the risks and limitations imposed by using
fuses.
B.
Page 4 of 8
Figure 7.
Fig 5. Latency (ms) for mechanical trip relay and circuit breaker
In order to prevent nuisance tripping caused by ambient light,
the light information is confirmed by detection of the associated
over-current signature. Just like the arc light, the over-current
can be detected within approximately 1 ms. Thus, the arc
detection time using light and current based detection is
approximately 1 ms. The trip time of the relay depends on the
output technology utilized in the protection system. With a
conventional electro-mechanical output relay, the total
operation time of the arc flash protection relay could be 5 to 8
milliseconds. When semiconductor outputs (solid state) are
used, their operating times are typically less than 1ms.
Therefore, the total detection and trip time can be less than
2ms. As a result, the arcing time consists almost totally of the
operation time related to the opening of the circuit breaker or
other current breaking device.
Fig 6. Latency (ms) for solid state trip relay and circuit breaker
There are various options to put optical detection based arc
flash protection into practice. A cost effective alternative is to
integrate it into numerical relays providing normal over-current,
ground fault or other protective functions. Separate stand-alone
units are also available which are designed especially for
applications where a limited number of optical sensors are
required. For large control systems, and if selective protection
zones are needed, a dedicated arc flash protection system is
the best solution.
A dedicated system consists of an arc flash protection central
unit, several light I/O units, current I/O units and arc light
sensors. An example of a typical zone protection arrangement,
using a dedicated arc flash protection system, is presented in
Page 5 of 8
x
x
(flammable areas)
Where it is crucial to minimize electrical distribution
process downtime and minimize process outages
The reduction of equipment damage improves the ability to
place the equipment back into service quickly
Introduction
Fig 8. Latency (ms) for solid state trip relay and arc eliminator
Page 6 of 8
Page 7 of 8
x
x
VIII. CONCLUSIONS
One approach to reduce arc-flash incident energy is to reduce
arcing current. However, it has been shown that lowering the
current may lead to higher incident energy level, because of the
increased operation time of the protection. In low voltage
systems an additional level of uncertainty comes from the fact
that the arcing current is significantly lower than the bolted fault
current.
The minimization of arcing time is a very efficient way to
reduce incident energy and associated hazard to personnel as
well as impact on equipment and processes. The arcing time
consists of arc detection time, operation time of the protection
logic, and the operation time of the primary device finally
eliminating the arc. Examples of how to apply the fastest
method to detect the arc, optical detection, have been given.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Page 8 of 8
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
VITA