Short Circuit Study
When an energized conductor contacts another energized conductor or ground, the load for the circuit is bypassed, and the impedance is greatly decreased. By simply using Ohms’ law, we can conclude that the amount of current will greatly increase. The total amount of available or prospective short circuit current is variable in various aspects, including utility contribution, upstream transformer credentials, system architectural design, voltage, etc. Generally, the energy is contained in the current-carrying conductors and protective devices opening the circuit in a short circuit fault.
To perform an incident energy calculation for arc flash purposes, a short circuit study and data collection are required. The calculations performed in an EPSCO short circuit study are completed via data collection technicians for data entry. SKM Power Tools for calculations and electrical and professional engineering for review. To simplify these calculations, we can use circuit impedance and voltage to calculate short circuit values, as shown above.
Find more helpful arc flash study technical documentation HERE
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