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The Industry Standard Software for Arc Hazard Asessment and Protective Clothing Selection

• Use the industry standard software tool to properly assess arc hazards at your utility or plant.
• Establish well-defined criteria for choosing functional, effective personal protective clothing and equipment.
• Reduce safety clothing budgets while ensuring workers are adequately protected.
• Comply with the mandates of safety authorities.

Protect personnel and comply with regulations

ARCPRO is an easy-to-use computer program designed by Kinectrics Inc. to assist utility and industry staff in the selection of protective clothing for workers at risk of exposure to electric power arcs. ARCPRO is based on extensive research, testing and decades of practical experience in the field of electric arcs. This highly effective tool offers proven value in helping utilities and other industries meet OHSA and related workplace regulations for safety apparel.

Multiple cost-effective benefits

ARCPRO provides multiple cost-effective benefits for utilities and related industries, including:

• The ability to easily define arc hazards and select appropriate protective clothing
• Improve purchasing specifications by accurately defining clothing performance data to meet fault arc conditions.
• Reduce unnecessary expenditures in safety clothing budgets while ensuring workers remain adequately protected
• Provide documentation for modified work practices to remove staff from hazardous areas

A state-of-the-art laboratory verified program

ARCPRO calculates the thermal parameters of electrical arcs and is designed to provide users with data on heat exposure, total heat flux and heat energy on a surface at various distances from an electric arc. The software is used to predict the potential arc hazard in a particular work environment.

A state-of-the-art program, ARCPRO includes a physics-based model of electric arcs. The software models high power arcing by taking into account such complex variables as gas properties, arc electrode materials, thermal radiation and convective energy dissipation.

ARCPRO considers the arc current, arc duration, arc gap, worker’s distance from the arc, and a number of other factors required in the accurate assessment of arc exposure. ARCPRO computations have been verified by live arc testing in Kinectrics’ High Current Laboratory.

Key Features

ARCPRO offers several key technical features to accurately analyze and predict the degree of hazard associated with electrical arcs, including calculation of:

• Total heat and heat flux reaching clothing (current range 0.2 to 100kA)
• Amount of thermal energy radiated by the arc
• Heat release through convective effects
• Spatial heat contours
• Arc parameters, including voltage, current and diameter

Once the arc energy is established, the program facilitates the comparison of clothing withstand capability to available arc energy, enabling the user to the select appropriate apparel.

Convenient outputs and accessible clothing databases

User-friendly operation

ARCPRO is extremely user-friendly, requiring only minimal basic input information on the arc. Selecting easy menu-driven options, users then simply "point and click" to perform calculations and view, analyze and save results. Detailed colour displays clearly indicate the magnitude and significance of quantified data. ARCPRO offers on-screen assistance and a comprehensive Help section. Kinectrics can customize ARCPRO to suit the specific needs of your enterprise.

System requirements

IBM-compatible PCs - Colour Monitor – Windows 95/98, NT, 2000 or XP - 2MB Hard Disk space

For more information, contact

Stephen Cress, 416.207.6557, stephen.cress@kinectrics.com