Reducing Arc Flash Incident Energy Level in an Offshore Gas Production Unit Using Intelligent Electronic Devices—A Case Study

This paper evaluates the protection system of an offshore gas production unit and proposes utilization of devices dedicated to identify the arc flash incidents inside the panels. A quantitative analysis has been performed by comparing the incident energy levels of the original design with the levels provided by the new design. The new design includes numerical relays equipped with dual sensing of arc flash: optical detection of the light and high-speed overcurrent detection. The analysis indicates that a drastic reduction of incident energy can be achieved. The reduction is based on very fast detection and elimination of the arc, lowering the arcing time.