Incident energy reduction techniques: A comparison using low-voltage power circuit breakers

THE REDUCTION OF ARC-FLASH incident energy is a topic that continues to generate interest and concern wherever electrical power is used and electrical equipment must be maintained. As the industry awareness of this subject increases, the number and complexity of methods used to reduce arc-flash incident energies also increases. Because of their inherently fast operation at high fault currents, current-limiting fuses have been the focus of numerous articles and papers on the subject. However, power system design, operation, and maintenance can be improved by the identification of arc-flash incident energy reduction techniques using low-voltage power circuit breakers, and this has become an area of focus. To understand these techniques, it is necessary to review the fundamentals of arc-flash incident energy and the parameters which can be controlled to reduce it.