Critical power: How to design for selective coordination in mission critical systems            

Wednesday Jan. 31, 2024

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 and data centers.

With the need for extensive power, these facilities often require the engineer to design for electrical safety, which includes 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 tripping.

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.