Intelligent Power Today Magazine

The strategies and recommended practices that apply to protection schemes for commercial and industrial facilities have evolved in the past decade. It is important that facilities managers and protection practitioners understand and embrace these developments.

The key challenges arise from the new reliance on information technology (IT) to accomplish virtually every commercial/industrial (C/I) process. Protection schemes today must cover equipment and facility safety, electrical system protection, the integrity of semiconductor-based controls and sensors and, most importantly, the safety of the end user.

The success of a protection system is measured by how precise, reliable, coordinated and fast it does its job. The failure of these systems typically is measured in the capital cost of replacing damaged equipment and the loss of productivity when damage brings a facility’s processes to a halt.

In existing facilities or designs for new ones, the recommended practice is to take a...