Critical power: How to design for selective coordination in mission critical systems
1 AIA CES approved LU available for attendees upon successful completion of an exam.
Mission critical facilities typically require electrical engineers to design and specify significant amounts of power to increase reliability, improve life safety, limit outages and provide for redundancy. Common examples of mission critical facilities include hospitals, laboratories, security operations centers and data centers.
With the need for extensive power, these facilities often require the engineer to design for electrical reliability, which includes overcurrent protective device coordination in time ranges defined by codes and best practices. These ranges can be up to 0.1 seconds, or up to the full ranges defined by manufacturers (selective coordination). Selective coordination, as defined in NFPA 70: National Electrical Code, is required for electrical systems as it relates to life safety.
Learn about the choices and criteria for the planning and design of mission critical facility overcurrent devices, fuses, circuit breakers and other electrical systems. Design engineers must coordinate electrical systems so that the protective device closest to the fault opens first, and quickly enough, to prevent the upstream devices from operating.
Learning objectives:
- Understand the various codes and standards that electrical engineers must consider.
- Learn about selective coordination risk assessments, and how to put them into practice.
- Determine options for mission critical selective coordination design.
- Glean a basic understanding of the different systems and their design requirements through examples/case studies.
Presented By:
Radames Cocco, PE, Principal Electrical Engineer, Spectrum Engineers
Joshua Fluecke, PE, LEED AP, Senior Principal, Syska Hennessy Group
Moderated By:
Amara Rozgus, Consulting-Specifying Engineer, CFE Media and Technology
