Temperatures of well over 10,000 degrees, an immense pressure wave andrapidly spreading hot gases – an arc fault accident poses a huge danger to people and technology. Companies are increasingly seeking to minimise these risks. For switchgear production, this is no easy task, and raises a lot of questions. Rittal has helped German switchgear manufacturer gefeba develop a system with class B arc fault protection.
Our customers are increasingly asking for low-voltage switchgear with arc fault protection,” says Kevin Pelka, Project Manager at gefeba, a one-stop shop for turnkey automation technology and electrical equipment that is based in Gladbeck, in Germany’s industrial Ruhr region. The company is well aware of this safety trend and is currently working on switchgear of this kind for thyssenkrupp Steel Europe. Like gefeba, many switchgear manufacturers have been rethinking their approach over the past few years. After all, the availability of production plants is becoming increasingly important, and arc fault protection in the low-voltage supply plays an important part in this regard....