NFPA International Fire Protection Foundation| Electrical Safety Research Advisory Committee
This item will be placed on the agenda of the NFPA Fire Protection Research Foundation meeting on June 15th:
What best practices from the International Electrotechnical Commission building power system design rules (set in IEC 60364) may be conveyed into the American National Standard Institute building power system rules, largely set by NFPA International (NFPA 70 – National Electrical Code)?
This is not a small proposal; but one that provides a detailed reconsideration of the science of practice of engineering building power systems in which the characteristics of the end-use equipment in the education industry — as well as other service-oriented industries — has changed significantly. A technical paper informed by this observation was recently presented at the IEEE Industrial & Commercial Power Systems Conference in Detroit-Windsor authored by Giuseppe Parise (Sapienza University of Roma) and Mike Anthony & Jim Harvey (University of Michigan). The full draft of the paper is available on the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee website. An abstract of the paper is presented below:
Abstract. This paper deals with an innovative design strategy of building power systems by introducing criteria based on a combined “installation approach” and “operating approach” (In-Op) applying the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust cycle. It recommends design of building electrical power systems that will reduce un-used life-cycle capability of the components of the power chain. The authors recommend consideration of the thermal aging model of Arrhenius to review the actual gap in load in selecting the rating of components. With respect to IEC standards, this paper underlines in the circuits design the cable steady and transient current densities, the load current torque density as “natural” parameters that allow applying a thumb rule in the classic sizing of the cross sectional area of circuit conductors. Microsystem criteria in power systems design allow structuring their configuration with components of smaller size. To reduce radically the volume of circuit conductors with more sensitive results in the branch distribution, the authors suggest reconsideration the series commercial cross section areas of power cables.
DRAFT OF PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT. Our hope is that when the Public Input period of the 2020 National Electrical Code opens later this year, we will have some concepts to submit to the NEC technical committees.
The next teleconference of the IEEE E&H Committee is June 14th, which will be hosted from the NFPA International Conference on June 14th; one day ahead of the ESRAC committee meeting, June 15th, 2:00 – 5:00 PM MDT. Anyone is welcomed to join this teleconference with the login information available in the link below:
Note that during the first session we will have the privilege of a presentation by Greg Walson, to present an overview of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus power distribution system. A recording of the First Teleconference will be available in the Second Teleconference and posted on our Videoblog.