Arc Flash vs Internal Arc Resistance

Arc flash characteristics are one of the greatest fears that many people face in the electrical industry and in mining.  Were many people ask about equipment installation they are curious about an arc resistance.  Arc flash or arc resistant concepts are commonly mixed up together and an arc flash versus internal arc resistance can be two terms that are quite different. Here are the different concerns between arc flash and internal arc resistance that you should know about:

Internal Arc Resistance

An internal arc is one that occurs inside of a switchgear.  This type of internal arc resistance and switchgear showcases the ability to withstand the faults of arcs.  If a fault within the arc occurs,  the single compartment inside the cubicle needs to divert the gasses away from personnel and this means that the switchgear will internalize the arc fault and be tested for arc fault dangers.

 Arc flash

An arc flash is an extremely intense amount of heat and light that is produced by an arc fault.  It happens when there are open conductors that come together and there is a chance that an arc of electricity comes out of a piece of equipment.  This leads to a direct exposure as well as ongoing heat radiation that can cause severe burns.  Arc flashes have very little to do with the devices but they often come down to installation and maintenance.  Arc flash hazards often occur if relay settings have been adapted to remove protections or the installation of a short circuit current has been done improperly. If the duration of fault current flow changes this can also lead to arc flash.

Proper equipment label warnings need to be put into place to protect against arc flash and the hazards of arc/need to be also carried out in the ongoing analysis. With an analysis to understand how intense and arc flash may be, it is also possible to prevent this issue with ongoing maintenance and the installation of various flash protection boundaries.

If you would like to learn more about protective devices that you could be using to prevent arc flash, contact us today.

This post was written by Justin Tidd, Director at https://beckersmcusa.com/. For nearly a half a century, Becker Mining has been at the forefront of industry safety. Becker/SMC is the industry’s leader in increasingly more sophisticated electrical control systems. Most of the major innovations, design features, and specialized electrical components have been developed by Becker/SM