Evaluation of LV and MV Arc Parameters

Abstract

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> This paper presents an overview of the characteristics of arcing faults that occur on distribution systems, together with simple evaluation methods designed to assess their respective arc parameters. The approach proposed here is based on approximation curves and formulas derived from research studies including many laboratory tests as well as digital computations. Various practical tools are presented for estimating the arc voltage, low-voltage arc current and for taking into consideration the asymmetry of medium-voltage currents in order to evaluate the fault energy. </para>