163 results about "Arc flash" patented technology

A venting system is described for use with electrical enclosures in which hot gasses may be generated by certain types of fault. The venting assembly may be mounted to a surface of the enclosure, such as adjacent to an aperture formed in the enclosure door. The vent assembly includes a series of louvers that divert all gasses flowing from the enclosure and provide no direct path for gas. The vent assembly thus provides unimpeded flow of hot gasses during a fault event to divert and cool the gasses before exiting the enclosure. The vent assembly may be configured as a cartridge-type insert mounted either inside or outside the enclosure.

The present technique, applicable to low voltage, medium voltage, and high voltage MCCs and other power management systems, provides for substantially containing and directing an arcing fault and resultant ionized gases within a stab enclosure or housing disposed in the MCC. For example, the stab housing may have reduced stab-openings at the power bus interface to diminish the potential of an arc flash (and ionized gases) from reaching the power buses. Furthermore, phase-to-phase isolation barriers may be employed within the stab housing to reduce the potential of an arcing fault going phase-to-phase. Moreover, to reduce arc flash damage within the MCC, the walls and barriers, including walls around the stabs, within the housing may be configured to direct the arc on a preferred path to a desired location within the housing to extinguish the arc in less than 0.1 second or 6 cycles, or even less than 0.033 second or 2 cycles.

An arc crowbar with electrodes separated by a gap in a protective case. Each electrode is connected to an electrically different conductor of a circuit. A sensor detects an arc flash condition on the circuit and signals a trigger circuit to send an electrical pulse to an arc-triggering device in the arc crowbar gap. The triggering device ionizes a portion of the gas between the electrodes, initiating a protective arc between the electrodes that absorbs energy from the power circuit and trips a breaker, eliminating the arc flash condition. The triggering device may be a plasma gun, especially one that injects plasma of an ablated material into the gap. The sensor may signal a circuit breaker to open in the power circuit. Arc flash sensor types may include a differential current sensor and/or an optical sensor.

An apparatus to detect arc is presented. The apparatus includes a fiber sensor to detect characteristics of an arc flash and a processor to process at least two characteristics of the arc flash. The processor is further configured to generate an arc fault signal. A protective device is configured to mitigate the arc flash based on the arc fault signal.

A monitor control system and method for an electrical distribution system includes a trip unit of a circuit breaker. A sensor is associated with the electrical distribution system and coupled to the trip unit wherein the sensor is connected to one or more components of the electrical distribution system to detect whether the electrical distribution system is being serviced when a presence of a human being is also detected. A selector is coupled to the trip unit and configured to select maintenance mode parameters to define a mode of operation of the trip unit wherein in the maintenance mode arc flash reduction or tripping delay reduction is provided such that the trip unit operates based on the maintenance mode parameters.

Maintenance trip functions override the normal or specified trip functions of a low voltage circuit breaker to reduce pickup currents and/or time delays to effect faster trips, which reduces arc energy produced by faults during maintenance or testing on a live circuit breaker.

The invention provides a parking position-based vehicle communication method and system. The system comprises a service center (2). According to the vehicle communication method and system, an intelligent terminal (3) is adopted as a computing center; services such as door opening, door locking and remote car finding can be provided for the owner of a car through a positioning and control device (1) on the car; when the owner of the car is far away from the car, the car is locked automatically or the system prompts the owner of the car to lock the car; when a distance between the owner of the car and the car is smaller than a car finding distance, a horn of the car is sounded automatically, and the lights of the car flash automatically; since the service center (2) is adopted, the parameters of the system can be changed independently according to the needs of a user, and therefore, a variety of services such as door opening, door locking and remote car finding can be provided.

An arc flash system for a circuit breaker and a method of operation is provided. The arc flash system includes a first sensor such as a photo-detector and a second sensor that detects a circuit breaker parameter. The arc flash system is responsive to signals from the first sensor and second sensor to determine if an arc flash event is occurring to avoid nuisance tripping of the circuit breaker.

A system for making real-time predictions about an arc flash event on an electrical system is disclosed. The system includes a data acquisition component, an analytics server and a client terminal. The data acquisition component is communicatively connected to a sensor configured to acquire real-time data output from the electrical system. The analytics server is communicatively connected to the data acquisition component and is comprised of a virtual system modeling engine, an analytics engine and an arc flash simulation engine.

The present invention comprises MEMS enabled apparatus for the detection of arc-faults and the elimination of arc-flash conditions. The apparatus comprises an arc-flash detection component and a current limiting component. The current limiting component comprises a logic circuit in communication with the user interface, an MEMS protection circuit in communication with the logic circuit, and a switching circuit in communication with the MEMS protection circuit. The switching circuit comprises a plurality of micro-electromechanical system switching devices and a voltage limiting device, wherein the voltage limiting device is configured to prevent an over voltage event during a current limiting operation.

A battery energy storage system is disclosed, the battery energy storage system comprising a rechargeable battery assembly for storing and providing energy and a protection system including an arc flash protection device to protect against risks due to arc flashes. The arc flash protection device comprises an overcurrent protection unit which detects overcurrent conditions indicating arc flash conditions in case of a low impedance of the battery assembly and an undervoltage protection unit which detects undervoltage conditions indicating arc flash conditions in case of a low impedance of the battery assembly, wherein upon detecting the overcurrent conditions and/or the undervoltage conditions for a predetermined minimum time period, the arc flash protection device initiates protective measures to prevent further operation of the battery assembly. An energy conversion system comprising such a battery energy storage system, which can be used for stationary and mobile energy supply or distribution applications, is also disclosed.

A method of eliminating arc flash in a motor control center is disclosed. The method includes sensing an arc flash corresponding to the motor control center. In response to sensing the arc flash, and subsequent to a delay, determining whether the arc flash continues, and in response to determining that the arc flash continues, triggering an arc crowbar.

The invention provides up to Category 4 protection against arc radiation, the invented system comprising a protective hood defining a view-panel which confers Category 2 arc flash protection and a region of the hood adapted to encapsulate a Category 2 arc flash protection hard hat or helmet such that the act of encapsulation confers the Category 4 level of protection.

An arc flash relay system is described for use in a power distribution system including an arc flash sensor, a first circuit protection device, and a second circuit protection device. The arc flash relay system includes a first input configured to receive a detection signal from the arc flash sensor, a second input configured to receive a blocking signal from the first circuit protection device, and a controller. The controller is configured to determine that an arc flash has occurred based, at least in part, on the detection signal. The controller activates the second circuit protection device in response to the determination that an arc flash has occurred when the controller is not receiving the blocking signal, and delays activation of the second circuit protection device in response to the determination that an arc flash has occurred when the controller is receiving the blocking signal.