Arc Flash Studies

NFPA 70E defines Arc Flash Hazard as:

“A source of possible injury or damage to health associated with the release of energy caused by an electric arc.”

The standard states that the Employer is responsible for establishing, documenting, and implementing safety-related work practices and procedures. Part of this requirement involves establishing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when dealing with electrical equipment and devices. 

VT Power Engineering provides full turn-key service for Arc-Flash Hazard Analysis to meet the NFPA 70E requirements for existing and new facilities. Our service is to provide not only Arc Flash Hazard Analysis, but also a comprehensive study of your electrical system. Brief description of the study methodology is described below.

If required, we conduct a detailed audit of your facility to create accurate system diagrams and documentation. From the documentation, we construct an electrical system model and determine available operating scenarios. This model is used as the basis for the Arc-Flash and Power System Study.

After completion of the system model, the initial step is to perform short-circuit analysis in accordance with ANSI C37 standards. These results are used in the Equipment Evaluation Study to compare the calculated fault current levels with the interrupting ratings of equipment. The calculated short-circuit values are also used for selection of settings for overcurrent protective devices and arc-flash hazard analysis. 

Next step is the Coordination Study. This process determines recommend settings for the overcurrent protective devices to:

• Provide adequate system and equipment protection 
• Mitigate arc-flash incident energies
• Provide selective coordination to restrict overcurrent condition outages to only the affected circuits/equipment

Final step is the Arc Flash Hazard Analysis which is performed using IEEE 1584 methods per NFPA 70E 2024 Annex D.4. During this process, calculations determine approach boundaries to live parts for shock protection, arc-flash protection and incident energy available for pertinent locations throughout the system. 

Once complete, we provide a full report including:  

• Executive Summary including Introduction, Scope of Work, Methodologies and Recommendations
• System One-Line Diagrams in multiple formats
• Report of Component Inputs
• Report of Short-Circuit values
• Report of Equipment and Device Evaluation
• Report of Time-Current-Curves (TCCs) for coordination purposes
• Report and tabulation of Recommended Protective Device Settings
• Report and tabulation of Arc-Flash Hazard results
• Printed Arc-Flash Labels 

Please do not hesitate to contact us for a free Arc Flash Study proposal!