Arc flash analysis on kimanis power plant switchgears based on IEEE 1584 standard

Abstract

An arc flash radiates energy that can seriously burn the skin and clothing and even can lead to death. In most protection systems, the fault clearance times are based on bolted short circuit currents. In the event of an arcing fault, the lower fault current may result in a longer fault clearance time. In some cases, this may result in an increase in the fault energy, which will pose a greater risk to personnel. In many facilities, most of the equipment will have a Category 1 or 2 PPE rating. Equipment that requires Category 3 or 4 would not be able to be identified until an arc flash analysis is completed. Hence in this study, arc flash analysis is done based on the IEEE 1584 Standard by using a short-circuit analysis. Studies of normal and abnormal operations are carried out to simulate maximum and minimum fault conditions. This analysis is performed using ETAP ArcSafety - AC Arc Flash simulation software. With the short-circuit calculation and arc flash analysis done, the correct category rating of arc flash rated PPE according to the NFPA 70E clothing standard were able to be determined and other mitigation measures where necessary were recommended.