Electrical arcing phenomena: a historical perspective and comparative study of the standards: IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70 E

The exposure to hazards associated with electrical arcing phenomena when working on energized equipment is a topic of significant interest to industrial plant personnel. This article provides an overview of the current arc-flash standards, focusing on the methods used to calculate incident energy levels in a system. A thorough sensitivity analysis of the arc-flash hazard incident energy calculations currently adopted by the IEEE 1584 standard leads to some possible conservative simplification of the equations. These simple equations could be used for a quick first-cut assessment of the incident energy levels present in a system. A case study using data from a typical petrochemical application provides a comparison of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E and IEEE 1584 arc-flash incident energy equations and the results obtained using the proposed simplified calculations.