Safety First: Arc Flash Mitigation System
At James Controls, our firm believes that safety is of the utmost importance when operating in the industrial marketplace. For this safety-based project, the client needed to update their arc flash mitigation system at one of their medium-sized oil refineries.
James Control’s involvement with the project began when one of our lead electrical engineers was approached by the client’s electrical engineering capital project manager. Our lead engineer was able to address the client’s concerns allowing James Control's proposal for the project to be approved.
Our team of engineers and designers began by examining the existing substation and determined that most of the equipment was aging, originally installed in the 1970s. The substation feeds 10 other substations located at various points throughout the facility at 2400V (Medium Voltage). James Controls engineers replaced all the legacy electromechanical relays with new microprocessor-based relays with added arc flash protection. Specifically, the new microprocessor-based relays, including the SEL-751 and SEL-787, provide arc flash, feeder, and transformer differential protection. The newly added arc flash mitigation protects workers by reducing the available incident energy during a fault. This is accomplished by reducing the breaker trip time based on sensing both arc fault light and short circuit current.
Next, our lead electrical engineer developed and uploaded the appropriate protection settings to each newly installed microprocessor relay. Lastly, each relay and associated arc flash light sensors were commissioned, tested, and ensured to be fully operational before use.
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