Safety Upgrade Solutions

Active arc fault protection

Innovations and measures to increase personal and plant protection.

 

Or: "Why everything is under control again in about 2 milliseconds."

The  technology is based on ultrafast deletion of internal arc faults.

The pioneer in this area is ARCON® – this system has successfully passed all tests of the General Association of German Insurance Companies GDV and VdS Damage Prevention GmbH and been certified according to the fire insurance guidelines VdS 2349 “Malfunction-Free Electrical Installations”.

An active arc fault protection system effectively limits the existing arc energy and quickly extinguishes the accidental arc. After the elimination of faults and quenching device exchange, the system is immediately ready for operation again.

Exchanging system parts, components and equipment within the output range of the switchgear as a result of the effect of the accidental arc is not necessary.

Features

Functional principle

  • Recognition of arc fault emergence: Detection of light flash in connection with overcurrent.
  • Extinguishing of the accidental arc: Generation of a 3-phase short circuit within 2ms to concentrate the fault energy within a defined range.
  • Determination of the place of origin of the accidental arc: Monitoring of the individual bus bar sections.
  • Isolation of the affected area: Deactivation of the affected incoming circuit breaker.

KÖHL switchgears for medium and low voltage already have impressive values with regards to passive arc fault protection, far beyond the requirements of the latest standard to some extent.

To counter the physical forces of an accidental arc with an additional barrier for the protection of people and equipment and prevent the development of a dangerous flue gas mixture, KÖHL has been offering its customers a technical solution with active arc fault protection systems for many years. This solution can be directly installed in new systems at delivery or retrofitted into endangered existing systems.

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