Understanding IEEE 1584 arc flash calculations

This paper presents the IEEE 1584 guide for calculating arc-flash energies and arc flash protection. There are different methods included in this guide for calculating the arc flash associated with circuit breakers. The most accurate method included is to acquire specific device characteristics from the circuit breaker manufacturer. When this information is not available, the IEEE guide also includes a secondary circuit breaker method which is more conservative, and therefore calculates high values of arc energy that may mandate more protection than is necessary.