Doors Wide Open: Safety Beyond the Standards: The Testing of Real-World Scenarios

For nearly three decades, arc-resistant, detection, and quenching technologies have been in use and have continued to evolve together with changes to the associated global standards. These arc flash-related standards dictate hardware configurations and performance characteristics based on specific testing methods. However, they primarily focus on arc testing devices with equipment doors closed and latched, which offers only one basic protection scenario. Yet, many arc flash incidents occur when doors are open, especially during troubleshooting or equipment safety assessments. This raises questions about the validity of the testing sequences and results outlined in these standard procedures when one or more doors are open. This article aims to address this issue by proposing modifications to standard testing methods to better simulate real-world scenarios, where doors are often open during inspections and maintenance situations. Additionally, it will review the global standards for active arc fault mitigation, particularly focusing on regions adhering to IEC standards, where more rapid growth in deployment has been observed.