GE's Arc Vault™, Fastest Arc Containment Solution in Industry, Wins EC&M's 2011 'Product of the Year' Competition in Its Category
LONG BEACH - Electrical Construction & Maintenance (EC&M) magazine, the technical authority for over 130,000 electrical professionals, identified GE's Arc Vault™ Protection System as the "Protective Devices" category winner in its "Product of the Year Competition" at Electric West, the largest independent trade show serving the electrical design, construction and maintenance industry. Arc Vault™, a product of GE Energy's Industrial Solutions business, can contain arc faults in less than 8 milliseconds, helping provide maximum safety for users while protecting adjacent equipment and avoiding the expense of lost productivity.
According to EC&M, Arc Vault™ was identified as the category award winner by a panel of seven industry experts, including electrical engineers, contractors, inspectors and plant facility personnel. The award comes on the back of a recent order for two Arc Vault™ Protection Systems that will be delivered to a large mine in Colombia, South America, where the customer was looking for a reliable and cost-effective system to improve personnel safety and equipment protection at the mine.
"We are happy to accept this honor from EC&M," says Chris Bowler, general manager of marketing. "Our Arc Vault™ Protection System is the result of five years of product development. Last year the Arc Vault™ technology underwent rigorous alpha testing at our Plainville facility and then successfully completed beta testing at The Pennsylvania State University. We are now quoting and delivering the solution to customers."
Chuck Dobbins, senior electrical engineer for Penn State, supervised the beta testing of the Arc Vault™ technology. "Through our maintenance procedures and normal operations, we have to be around different electrical pieces of apparatus that can cause arc flash and put our people in danger," says Dobbins. "Arc Vault™ gives us another resource, or another tool, to add safety to our workforce and protect our personnel. It also will reduce the impact of downtime when we do have an incident."
Arc Vault™ was featured at EC&M's booth at Electric West, which ended Feb. 24. It will also accompany other GE Industrial Solution products and services in a trailer tour across North America later this year.
Capable of being retrofitted onto existing GE low-voltage equipment as well as other manufacturers' equipment, the Arc Vault ™ system can contain an arc fault in less than 8 milliseconds, resulting in incident energy of less than 1.2 cal/cm², in accordance with IEEE 1584, at 18" from the arc event, with the circuit breaker compartment doors open, in a 480V 65kAIC system.
To view a video and request technical documents that show how the Arc Vault ™ system works, visit www.geindustrial.com/arcvault.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With nearly 85,000 global employees and 2010 revenues of $38 billion, GE Energy www.ge.com/energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy-GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas-work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.
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For more information please contact:
Ellen Dowell
Communications Manager
GE Energy
Ellen.Dowell@ge.com
860-793-5958
