Technical Articles

Question:I have a switchboard with horizontal bus. Should I use the HCB model? Short answer:Not necessarily. Wait! What? Horizontal might not be horizontal? NFPA 70E requires performing an arc flash risk assessment which usually means using IEEE 1584 equations via software to conduct an arc flash study. This requires the selection of what is known as the equipment electrode configuration. One of the most misunderstood configurations is HCB. Let’s clear up a common misunderstanding. HCB stands for Horizontal Conductors in

IEEE 1584 is validated only up to 15 kV, leaving higher-voltage systems outside its empirical model. This article explains what NFPA 70E requires above 15 kV and outlines defensible approaches for high-voltage arc-flash risk assessments.

NFPA 70E arc-flash labels often display distances and incident energy in different units, leading to confusion. This article explains why IEEE 1584 requires metric calculations and how labeling conversions still remain compliant with NFPA 70E.

Brainfiller and Jim Phillips are proud to partner with Electrical Safety UK (ESUK), a leading authority in arc flash and electrical safety across the UK and Europe.

NFPA 70E requires arc-flash labels, but it does not mandate specific colors. This article explains how ANSI Z535 signal words influence label colors and what is considered best practice for compliance.

The 2-second arc duration is often misunderstood in IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70E applications. This article explains what the assumption really means and when engineering judgment must be applied.

The arc-flash boundary in NFPA 70E is often misunderstood as a “safe” distance. This article explains what the boundary actually represents and why below 1.2 cal/cm² does not mean risk-free.