Fuse thermal stability impacts on arc flash mitigation

Arc flash mitigation techniques that employ fused protective devices are vulnerable to ambient temperature induced changes in performance. An example system depending on fuses is evaluated to demonstrate the level of impact stemming from ambient temperature fluctuation on incident energy levels. A proposed modification to IEEE Std. 1584 arc flash incident energy calculations is presented which would account for the impact of ambient temperature fluctuation on fuse performance without detailed fuse performance modeling.