What Is An Arc Flash Study? An Arc Flash Study or Arc Flash Analysis is conducted by a professional electrical engineer to better understand your electrical equipment and the study best determines how to mitigate any potential arc flash hazard problems.
Far too often, plant electrical systems go through equipment changes without serious attention paid to short circuit levels and hazardous energy within the electrical equipment. Even new buildings and installations are not immune to short circuit problems. The results can be expensive at best, disastrous at worst! Understanding how to conduct a proper study can reduce the risk your company faces and help avoid catastrophic arc flash injury to workers and equipment. In the end, it is all about arc flash electrical safety & equipment reliability.
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Only after an arc flash study has been completed to determine the proper level of hazard, can engineering revisions be made to your electrical equipment to reduce the arc flash incident energy to manageable and safe levels. But only a proper study and short circuit study can identify the buses with high incident energy levels and only a study can determine the rating of the personal protective equipment really needed at each location in a facility.
Arc Flash Study Considerations
An arc flash study is a complicated engineering survey and that is why it is usually performed by an electrical engineer. Preparing for an a study in advance can make the data collection process much easier and the results and analysis more accurate. It’s true that an a study can be time consuming, but an accurately performed a study can improve plant electrical safety by identifying where the most dangerous hazards are located and whether or not plant safety can be improved.
A study usually involves four phases:
Of these four phases, only Step 2, the engineering analysis and report preparation, are done off site.
A properly executed Arc Flash Study includes:
