Effect of Electrode Geometry on Arc Flash Protection Boundary

Abstract

In arc flash hazards studies, protection boundary are able to be used to gain insight in personnel protection against to thermal injuries. However, while IEEE 1584–2002 has provided the hazards calculation based on tests with the arcing electrodes in a vertical plane, applications where the vertical arrangement is not directly applicable is drawing more attentions in past few years. Due to the varied thermal behaviors of arc occurred in different configuration of the equipment and the varied bus connection mode, to adequately protect a worker from thermal injury, it is necessary to analyze the effect of different electrode geometry on arc flash protection boundary. This paper fully discussed the impact of electrode geometry on incident energy exposure level and AFPB. With the multiple electrode geometry designed tests, thermal behaviors of arc under different configurations has been analyzed. According to test results, correction equations were derived under each typical electrode geometry to adjust the AFPC calculation of IEEE 1584–2002. Through the comparisons, the corrected model can better reflect the actual effects of electrode geometry, meanwhile showing a good ability to provide the reasonable AFPB for practical uses.