Hi everyone,

I want to conduct a DC Arc Flash study and, doing my researches, I have heard about the Cline Method.
As I understand it, it allows to find the clearing time of an AC fuse under DC arcing current conditions when the only available data is the AC TCC curve.
I would like to know how reliable this method is and if it is a common practice in DC arc flash studies?
Should I contact the manufacturer for further DC information on my AC fuse?

Thanks

Follow please http://www.arcadvisor.com/pdf/Fuse-Protection-of-DC-Systems.pdf to access the paper by Cynthia Cline. Indeed, the method allows to find the clearing time of a fuse under DC fault conditions using the fuse time-current characteristic (AC) and the circuit time constant. The Cline method is routinely used in industry to evaluate fuse performance in DC systems. Note please that not all fuses are DC rated. Therefore, you should always check yourself or contact the manufacturer for the fuse DC rated voltage, DC interrupting rating, rated time constant and the fuse DC voltage capability vs. time constant chart to decide it the fuse is suitable for a given DC application or not.

The Cline method has also been utilized in DC arc flash studies. Check please this forum thread at http://arcflashforum.brainfiller.com/threads/2332/ for details. At least one software program employs the method to determine incident energy released by a DC arc, hazard risk category, arc flash and shock protection boundaries as a function of system voltage, available short circuit current, equipment class, fixed or variable gap between electrodes, circuit time constant, protection device type and rating, working distance etc.

Thanks a lot for the info and the links this is really helpful!

Give me the load in amps, inrush current and the dc voltage and I will give you the correct dc fuse or if you give me an existing fuse I can tell you if it will work.

thanks for sharing. good luck