Comparing Solutions for Arc Flash Hazard Reduction

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Please join us --virtually via Google Meets -- for this upcoming IEEE Spokane event: An in depth comparison of three different technologies and their applications for reducing risk to workers due to arc flash hazards.

Arc-resistant equipment, isolation barriers, and energy reducing line-side isolation (ERLSI) are different solutions for arc flash hazard reduction that on the surface appear to be very similar, but when considered in detail are quite different. Arc resistant equipment redirects or contains an internal arc fault within the equipment so that the under certain conditions personnel are exposed to a lower arc-flash hazard. An isolation barrier installed in equipment can, under the right conditions, substantially lower the likelihood of inadvertent contact across the barrier. ERLSI is an equipment feature that is similar to an isolation barrier, but with enhanced functionality and applied to the line-side of the equipment main overcurrent protective device to reduce arc-flash hazards. All three solutions, when properly applied, reduce the arc flash risk to the electrical worker but under different conditions.

This presentation compares the application of these three solutions based upon considerations of selection, limitations, benefits, conditions under which arc-flash hazards are reduced, maintenance, end of life, and relative cost.

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