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EasyPower Expert Services

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Arc Flash Risk Assessment

EasyPower's expert engineering staff can provide complete turnkey arc flash risk assessment, or support your team through any part of the process. Using EasyPower®, we can provide a variety of services to meet your arc flash needs:

Show the step-by-step process to compliance
Evaluate the needs of your facilities for arc flash risk assessment
Provide implementation support
Review software needs, application training requirements
Define the amount of engineering services required for your facilities’ compliance
Evaluate various electrical system configurations and operating modes
Determine arc flash protection boundaries
Develop proper PPE requirements, work procedures, warning labels, and floor stripes
Identify ways to manage PPE requirements, while avoiding costly productivity losses and safety risks due to over-specification of PPE
Print high quality, weather-resistant vinyl warning labels

Our staff engineers can visit the site, gather information, perform the analysis, and if desired, train plant engineers and electricians to help ensure ongoing compliance.

Our system study report includes the results of the EasyPower® analysis, recommendations, and a prioritized action plan. This report is provided to help ensure proper electrical equipment ratings and settings, PPE selection and electrical service reliability.

Short Circuit Analysis

Short circuit calculations are required to correctly apply equipment in accordance with NEC and ANSI standards. Depending on the size and utility connection, the amount of detail required to perform these calculations can vary greatly. EasyPower’s short circuit analysis will include calculations performed in accordance with the latest ANSI standards.

Switches, fuses, and breakers that need to interrupt or close into a fault are of special concern. Cables and buswork also have short circuit withstand limitations, and a thorough study will examine non-interrupting equipment, as well as switches and breakers. Standards such as ANSI C37.010 and C37.13 outline the recognized calculation methods for these equipment-rating analyses.

Short circuit calculations are required for the application and coordination of protective relays and the rating of equipment. All fault types can be simulated. EasyPower’s short circuit study provides a detailed report identifying breaker ratings, breaker fault duties, discussions, and recommendations for any deficiencies found.

Power Flow Analysis

EasyPower’s power flow analysis utilizes a computer model to examine normal steady state and contingency conditions in an electrical system. A power flow solution provides voltages and equipment loadings under a given set of system conditions. A series of power flow cases can show the effects of various design alternatives or equipment outages on system operation.

An engineer can use power flow cases to:

Examine benefits of load-tap-changing transformers
Examine benefits of power factor correction capacitors
Select locations for power factor correction capacitors
Set taps on fixed-tap transformers
Explore steady state performance of expansion alternatives
Determine ratings for new or upgraded circuits
Determine equipment loading

In addition, a power flow case can provide a snapshot of system voltages during motor starting, impact loading, or other short-term events that affect system voltages.

Power Factor Analysis

Power factor improvement is a cost-effective method to meet the reactive demand of a plant or distribution system. Power factor improvement may be warranted simply from the benefits it provides in voltage increase and reduced loading of transformers, cables, and generators.

The technical and economic value of power factor improvement is verified through an analysis of the plant electrical system and loads. Also, planning for present and future kVAR needs may require additional studies. If harmonics are present, the selection of capacitors will be more complex and the location more critical. Frequent switching of capacitors can cause transient over-voltages, and isolated motors on capacitors may have to be examined for self-excitation.

EasyPower® PowerFlow serves as an excellent tool to evaluate power factor improvement alternatives. Using PowerFlow, EasyPower engineers can provide power flow analysis to reveal actual power factor correction, while providing analysis of potential problem areas. Excessive voltage regulation may indicate a need for including automatic voltage control equipment.

Motor Starting Analysis

EasyPower’s motor starting analysis identifies the expected voltage dip and acceleration time for a motor and the effects of motor starting on a system. Alternate starting methods, such as across-the-line, reactor, capacitor, or autotransformer start, can be explored.

If system voltage dips are a concern, EasyPower engineers will propose the appropriate solutions. For calculating acceleration times, they will employ advanced, dynamic simulation with inertia and other machine data.

Relay Coordination Analysis

Proper application and coordination of over-current relays and other protective devices is vital in a system requiring reliable electrical service. EasyPower expert engineers bring the critical experience needed for the proper application of ANSI and NEC requirements to equipment protection.

In addition to relays that respond to short circuits, low voltage breakers, differential, directional, power, under voltage, out-of-step, and other special protective relays often need to be set. This EasyPower study will include detailed tables listing the recommended settings and discussion of any limitations.

Harmonic Analysis

The increasingly widespread application of SCR-controlled drives in industrial processes has brought harmonic consideration into the design of electrical systems. It is common practice for industrial plants with major harmonic sources to add harmonic filters to limit voltage distortion and harmonic current flows into the utility system. On existing systems, harmonic measurements are usually made to determine the extent of voltage and current distortion and are used as a base for further calculations. If calculations show that harmonic filters are required to meet specified criteria, filters can be designed and analytically tested.

Harmonic filters must be integrated with power factor correction capacitors and must withstand any harmonics absorbed from a utility system or neighboring plant. Filters must also continue to function when loads in the plant vary or major elements such as transformers are taken out of service for maintenance. With careful planning, filters can be designed to reliably serve their intended purpose without creating new problems.

EasyPower’s harmonic analysis will reveal:

Harmonic current paths
Amount of harmonic current flowing into the utility system
Generated harmonic voltages
Potential resonances
Performance of filter and capacitor bank tuning options
Comparison of results against the latest IEEE 519 standard

System Stability Analysis

The stability of synchronous motors and generators has long been a design consideration in industrial and co-generation plants, as well as utility systems. It is necessary to ensure the network, synchronous machines, and protective systems will function adequately so faults do not interrupt operation.

Where instability is shown to be a potential problem, several practical alternatives can usually be used to eliminate the source of the problem. In some situations, changes to the network can improve stability; while in others, protective systems can be installed to avoid machine damage and minimize the disturbance.

An EasyPower system stability study can include:

Induction generator over-excitation from capacitors
Induction motor low- and high-voltage effects
Motor transfer analysis when switching sources
Reaccelerating analysis to guide plant operators
Impact loading on motor shafts
Emergency generator performance applied to load recovery
General system stability

One form of output from a dynamic study is graphical time response or impedance plots. These plots can show variations in voltage, machine angle, frequency, line flows, and apparent impedance.

Load Shedding Analysis

Load shedding is a special form of dynamic study most frequently associated with electrical systems having in-plant generation. The time period of examination is usually longer due to the slower response of governors. Loss of a major source, usually the utility, can have a severe effect on plant voltage and frequency. Rapid corrective action may be required.

An EasyPower load shedding study can help determine if standard load shedding relays are adequate or if a computer-based load shedding system is required. EasyPower engineers examine different operating scenarios to determine the speed and amount of load to be shed for successful recovery, while keeping critical loads through a disturbance.