Littelfuse, Inc., announces the AF0500 Arc-Flash Relay, which delivers arc-flash protection in a flexible design with unlimited scalability. The AF0500 Arc-Flash Relay's simple, plug-and-play installation design is ideal for retrofits in electrical equipment such as switchgear, transformers, substations, motor control centers, load banks and many other applications. It supports four light sensors that allow the relay to sense an arcing fault, respond in less than a millisecond, and send a trip signal to an upstream breaker to interrupt the fault. The reduced time to trip helps customers lower their incident energy making their systems safer.
Like its predecessor, the Littelfuse PGR-8800 Arc-Flash Relay, the new AF0500 Arc-Flash Relay does not require PC configuration, which simplifies installation ensuring correct relay set up every single time. Unlike competing products, the unique sensors used with the AF0500 are equipped with a visual indicator called Heartbeat to monitor the health of the sensor. Heartbeat allows workers to verify immediately that the sensors are properly operating and offering protection without inspecting the relay, which is often located in another compartment.
In addition to lowering costs of installation and maintenance, the AF0500 Arc-Flash Relay reduces the total project cost by allowing for a flexible mix of point sensors and fiber optic sensors using the same inputs. One AF0500 relay can also be set up to trip different zones, eliminating the need to buy separate relays for each zone. The relay provides tie breaker trip and upstream breaker trip, which is useful protection in case the local breaker fails to trip.
The AF0500 relay expands the Littelfuse arc-flash relay line to offer arc-flash protection for a wider range of applications. The relay includes an Ethernet interface and supports Modbus TCP communication. A USB port is used to access event logs and to configure complex systems with multiple power sources. The AF0500 efficiently protects small systems and allows the flexibility to interconnect an unlimited number of units to protect large systems.
