Arc Flash & Electrical Safety: Video of Arc Flash Demonstration

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Video of Arc Flash Demonstration

What does an arc flash explosion look like? A 480v 3-phrase demonstration of an arc flash was set up in a laboratory and video taped. An arc flash is usually caused by something, most commonly dirt or debris, causing a short circuit. For example, here is a report of an arc flash incident caused by a tool that fell into a breaker panel.

In this demonstration the arc flash was intentionally started by placing wires across the three copper bus bars. This created the short circuit normally caused by dirt or debris. Power (480v) was then applied to the bus bars for about 1 second.

Labels: Arc Flash, Understanding Arc Flash

posted by Steve Hudgik | This Arc Flash Post and 6 Comments |

6 Comments:

At 5:31 AM, howard s said...: this is a good demo but needs a little more explaination. Could be used in a training program. Can it be downloaded?
At 6:55 AM, Steve Hudgik said...: Thanks for your comment. I've added more information about the demonstration arc flash, and I've brought the video into the blog post, so the information and video are together.

This is a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iClXrd5 0Z8). It can be embedded in a web page, as I have done here, but I do not believe YouTube videos can be downloaded.
At 11:10 AM, Anonymous said...: Incredible video!! Thank you.
At 3:32 PM, Anonymous said...: Great video! Keep on hacking...
At 4:46 AM, FLV Player said...: Unbelievable! Add some more clips to that video.
At 6:21 AM, Steve Hudgik said...: Since this was posted three years ago several services have become available that allow you to download YouTube videos. One that I have used is: http://downloadyoutubevideo.org