DocumentCode :
2404479
Title :
Increasing electrical safety by reducing the risk of arc flash hazards
Author :
Hodgson, Donna Lee ; McKinney, Marcus ; DeGrate, Shelly
Author_Institution :
Shell Exploration & Production Co., New Orleans, LA, USA
fYear :
2011
fDate :
19-21 Sept. 2011
Firstpage :
1
Lastpage :
12
Abstract :
The risk of arc flashes in power distribution equipment has long been recognized as a serious hazard in the petroleum and chemical industry. This paper will explore the methodology one company used to systematically reduce the risk of personnel injury due to arc flash on its existing facilities and a new project. The process includes incorporating procedures and technologies that allow for minimizing the need to work on or near energized equipment, moving essential work tasks to safe distances, and eliminating or reducing the arc flash potential. There are multiple products that can be installed to prevent or reduce the risk and severity of arc flashes by one of the methods mentioned above. This paper will describe some of these available methods, give examples of how they were retrofitted to existing facilities, and how they were incorporated into the design of a new facility. As a result, the Company was able to successfully lower all of the calculated incident energies of their equipment to below 40 cal/cm2. The process of identifying the hazards, the selection of technologies to reduce the hazard, or move the technician away from the hazard, the installation and end results will all be described.
Keywords :
electrical safety; flashover; hazards; power apparatus; power distribution; arc flash hazard risk; arc flash potential; chemical industry; electrical safety; personnel injury; petroleum industry; power distribution equipment; Arc discharges; Circuit breakers; Circuit faults; Generators; Hazards; Protective relaying; Arc flash; Automatic Breaker Racking; Incident Energy; Maintenance Switch; Relay Coordination;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Petroleum and Chemical Industry Conference (PCIC), 2011 Record of Conference Papers Industry Applications Society 58th Annual IEEE
Conference_Location :
Toronto, ON
ISSN :
0090-3507
Print_ISBN :
978-1-61284-299-8
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/PCICon.2011.6085855
Filename :
6085855
Link To Document :
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