EasyPower - Arc Flash Analysis

This tutorial demonstrates several of EasyPowers arc flash analysis features. EasyPower ArcFlash utilizes
several other facets of engineering, including short circuit analysis and protective device coordination and
one-line building. As supplemental tutorials, we also suggest looking at these related tutorials.

Short Circuit Focus

To perform an Arc Flash analysis, you must be in the Short Circuit focus.

Open the file Protection-1.dez in your SAMPLES directory.

Enter Short Circuit focus by choosing the

button on the toolbar. A Short Circuit toolbar appears.

Calculating Arc Flash Hazards / Currents

Press the

(Fault) toolbar button. This runs a batch fault of all the buses in the system.
Press the
(Shortcut: Double-click on buses to individually fault them.)

(Arc Flash) toolbar button.

The program displays the arc flash boundary (AFB), incident energy, and the recommended personal
protective equipment (PPE) category for operation near the energized buses in the system. (See
Figure 1.) For example, a PPE category of three (3) is recommended (based on IEEE 1584) for any
person working at 18 inches from energized BUS-4.

Figure 1: Arc Flash Results on the One-line

Detailed Output and the Spreadsheet

Select Tools Short Circuit Options from the menu. A dialog box appears. Choose the Arc
Flash Hazard tab. (See Figure 2.) Note in the dialog the EasyPower ability to automatically
compare flash hazards at 100% and 85% arcing currents (per IEEE 1584).

Figure 2: Arc Flash Hazard Dialog Box

Change the Arc Flash Clearing Times Output to Detailed and press OK.

Double-click on BUS-4 to fault the bus.

Figure 3: Arc Flash Hazard spreadsheet output.

A more detailed set of arc flash results is provided for the arcing fault. The results on the downstream
feeder breakers represent the hazards one would incur when working just downstream of those breakers.
The Primary device in the spreadsheet is a user-specified device. (More on this later in the tutorial.)

To view the Arc Flash spreadsheet, select Arc Flash Hazard Report from the Window menu.
[See Figure 3.]

At this time, try experimenting with the spreadsheet and arc flash options. Note that you can modify all
blue text in the spreadsheet. Also, to access the Short Circuit (and Arc Flash) Options, the one-line must
be active. To activate the one-line, select Protection-1 from the Window menu.

Arc Flash Labels

The interface for printing arc flash labels is inside the EasyPower arc flash spreadsheet: Right-mouse
click on a spreadsheet row and choose either Print Label for Current Device or Print Label for All
Devices. (Note: This feature is disabled in the demo version.) A sample EasyPower label is given in
Figure 4 below:

Figure 4: Sample EasyPower Label

Energized Work Permits

Back on the one-line, right-mouse click on BUS-4 and choose Arc Flash Working Permit. A
Work Task Dialog appears. See Figure 5. (Note: In the demo version, the Work Task Dialog
does not appear, but rather a sample work permit appears similar to the one in Figure 6.)

Check the Create Permit checkbox which says Work on Live Parts and press OK.

Figure 5: Work Task Dialog

EasyPower automatically opens Microsoft Word and displays a work permit with data based on the
calculated arc flash hazards and the selected work task. An example is shown in Figure 6. (Note: In the
demo version of EasyPower, only a sample work permit is created.)

Figure 6: Arc Flash Work Permit Created by EasyPower

Other points of interest regarding the work permits include the following:
1. Multiple work permits can quickly be created for each bus in EasyPower. The documents are
automatically saved in the directory where the one-line file is located.
2. The work permit template is user-customizable. (The template is _WP_Template.doc in the
EasyPower directory and can be modified via Microsoft Word.)
3. Other work permit customizations are made via the EasyPower library. (This library is stdlib.mdb
in the EasyPower directory and can be modified via EasyPower.)

User-Defined Times

On the EasyPower one-line, click on the

toolbar button to re-enter Database Edit focus. Doubleclick on BUS-4. A Bus Data dialog will appear. Select the Arc Flash Hazard tab.
o Fill in the device clearing time(s). Up to four device clearing times can be user-specified for
each bus.
Note: ESA strongly recommends that arc flash calculations be performed using the actual
protective device clearing times. This is automatic if you own EasyPowers coordination program
PowerProtector and have entered protective device data for each device.

Coordination Integration

Click on the

From the menu, choose TCC Open. In the TCC Open dialog, choose TCC-1 and press OK.
A TCC will appear.

In the TCC toolbar, press the

the TCC one-line.

Drag the short-time delay of the purple BL-1 SST curve (on the right) up and down. (See Figure 7.)

(Coordination) button.

(Arc Flash) toolbar button. The arc flash answers will appear on

Figure 7: Coordination Integration in EasyPower

Observe that the arc flash results automatically update at the lower section of the one-line. This provides a
useful demonstration of the influence that the settings of protective devices have on arc flash hazards.

Conclusion
This has been a brief overview of EasyPowers Arc Flash Hazard program. The EasyPower - Users Manual
and the EasyPower help system cover these and other arc flash features in greater depth.