Method for predicting arc flash energy and PPE category within a real-time monitoring system

A system for making real-time predictions about an arc flash event on an electrical system, comprising:

• an analytics server communicatively connected via a network connection with a data acquisition hub and a virtual system model database;
• wherein the analytics sever comprises an arc flash simulation engine;
• wherein the data acquisition hub is operable to continuously acquire real-time data from a plurality of sensors located throughout the electrical system;
• wherein the virtual system model database is operable for providing a virtual system model for the electrical system and continuously update the virtual system model with the real-time data from the electrical system by comparing the real-time data from the plurality of sensors to expected values and automatically updating the virtual model of the electrical system based on the comparison of the real-time data from the plurality of sensors to the expected values;
• wherein the arch flash simulation engine is operable to modify the virtual system model of the electrical system to introduce a short-circuit feature to an uninterrupted power supply bypass circuit branch;
• select a standard to supply equations used for arc flash event simulation;
• simulate an arc flash event utilizing the modified virtual system model based on the real-time data;
• calculate a quantity of arc energy released by the arc flash event using results from the simulation;
• predict at least one aspect of the arc flash event;
• and
• communicate a prediction report for the arc flash event.