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Engineering Services Arc Flash Advisors can provide a multitude of power system engineering services. Our field engineers have years of experience working in industrial, commercial, governmental, and utility facilities. Our services will eliminate your power quality problems, thus increasing your facility's reliability and efficiency.
Arc Flash Hazard Training
Arc Flash Advisors Ltd. is an electrical safety oriented company, joining together various aspects of the electrical industry, such as engineering, analysis, design, installation, field services, standards, manufacturing and supply, towards the common goal.
Our skilled personnel have years of experience performing maintenance and repair of electrical systems. This experience, combined with a qualified engineering staff, can provide you with quality work done right the first time in an efficient and cost effective manner.
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What is an Arc Flash? Arc Flash is an electrical short circuit, where a high level of current passes through air. Arc Flashes cause electrical equipment to explode, resulting in an arc-plasma fireball with temperatures exceeding 35,000° F (the surface of the sun is 9000° F). These high temperatures cause rapid heating of surrounding air and extreme pressures, resulting in an arc blast. An arc blast is the explosive expansion of both the surrounding air and the metal in the arc’s path. In an arc blast, vaporized solid metal conductors expand several thousand times their original volume, and can travel at speeds in excess of 700mph. The result of this violent event is usually destruction of the equipment involved, fire, and severe injury or death to any nearby people. The explosion takes less than one second and produces a brilliant flash, intense heat, and a pressure blast potentially equivalent to several sticks of dynamite. During these events, electrons travel at the speed of light in the magnitude of thousands of amps. If your electrical system is of any size at all, then it can generate enough energy during an Arc Flash to generate the following conditions:
What causes an Arc Flash? Arcing faults cause arc flash incidents. Basically, anything that “shorts” a circuit and causes current to travel out of its normal path can set off an arc flash. Simply stated, the separation or “space” around and between energized components is compromised and the current actually flows through the ionized air causing an arc. This arcing fault releases energy out into the surrounding environment that can be devastating to employees and equipment. Typically, one of the causes below is attributable to starting an arc flash incident.
What is an Arc Flash Hazard Analysis? The only way to know how severe arc flash events will be at your facility is to conduct an Arc Flash Hazard Analysis. This analysis calculates the incident energy generated during an electrical arc event using the magnitude and potential time duration of these events at various electrical devices in your system. The end goal is to determine the Flash Protection Boundary and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) that people within the Flash Protection Boundary shall use. The Flash Hazard Analysis requires the following items to be completed: Collection of necessary electrical data for system modeling including:
Based on the arc flash information provided by the engineering analysis, a Hazard/Risk Category (HRC), per the NFPA 70E guideline, is determined for each applicable location. PPE requirements for workers can then be established once the HRC is known for each panel location.
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