This week’s question was provided by one of our forum members/friends and is quite timely with the recent release of the 2018 Edition of IEEE 1584.

Now that the 2018 Edition of IEEE 1584 has been published, when do you plan on updating your (clients) arc flash studies?

Immediately - ASAP
Within 3 months
Within 6 months
Within a year
As part of the NFPA 70E 5-year review
Never or does not apply

This has been a hot topic of conversation so feel free to share your thoughts and views!

What would be the driving requirement for updating studies that aren't due for a review?

Also, what would prevent a client from sticking with the 2002 equations for an existing study when the review period comes up? Are the results going to be significantly different? By "significantly" I mean raising or lowering IE values enough to have to change what PPE is worn.

Yes indeed the results could be way different. Screenshots below show calculation results for a similar system as predicted by IEEE 1584 - 2002 (Arc Flash Analytic version 5.0)



and by new IEEE 1584 - 2018 (Arc Flash Analytic version 6.0)

Here's a comparison between 1584 2002 vs 2018 on a sample project. Results are pretty similar, although typical box dimensions are used. YMMV.

Johnny Ma
SKM Systems Analysis, Inc.