Arc Flash Analysis and Techniques for Hazard Reduction Using Smart Protective Devices

This paper presents an arc flash risk assessment taking care of the protection device coordination procedure in order to reduce incident arc flash energy at low voltage busbars in a biomass power plant. The mitigations were measured and presented to reduce incident arc flash energy using the appropriate smart protection device software. A short circuit analysis is performed to calculate the values of short circuit currents and compute arc flash energy dissipated at busbars at low voltage busbars in the biomass power plant. An arc flash can cause damages to electrical equipment and personnel. In this paper, three main techniques were considered, namely arc flash prevention, prediction and monitoring, detection and reduction using a smart arc flash module and proper protection coordination software. A practical sample case is presented for low voltage busbars in one biomass power plant in Croatia.