5EATON CORPORATION BR003010ENHow can the risk of electrically ignited fires be reduced?To answer this question, it helps to pull up some statistics on causes for fire. Around 32 % of fires are electrically ignited. At this point, a number of technical measures using automatic disconnection are in force, which have proven their effectiveness:(Source: Institut für Brandursachenstatistik)Possible cause of fire: excessive current• A miniature circuit breaker (MCB) recognizes faults whereby a critical threshold value for current is exceeded. MCBs can prevent the thermal destruction of installation parts caused either by short-circuits or overcurrents. Possible cause of fire: residual current• A residual current device (RCD) detects if there is a current flowing back to the source through other paths (hence the term “residual”) and earth, e.g. a human or animal body or a conductive object not part of the installation. They are essential if protection against electric shock makes disconnecting the circuit necessary and are considered an incomplete solution for protection against electrically ignited fires. Even relatively small residual currents that are, for instance, caused by people making contact with an electrical circuit, can trigger ventricular fibrillation or cause fires respectively.Possible cause of fire: arc fault• An Arc Fault Detection Device (AFDD) in accordance with IEC 62606 now fills the major gap in the protection against thermal effects and is able to recognize currents created by an arc fault and disconnect them. These currents are some- what smaller or the same size as the nominal current, but have a decisive characteristic that distinguishes them from conventional fault currents and short- circuits. High frequencies which are superimposed on the normal nominal current can be reconized using a digital detection device. Therefore arcing currents from serial or parallel faults that cannot be detected by the two above-mentioned protection devices (MCBs and RCDs), but can easily cause fires, can be detected and disconnected by an AFDD.Hidden fire hazards ...Cause of fire: electric currentNew: Arc Fault Detection DeviceTechnical innovation is the solutionArcs in electrical installations occur quite often and can be a cause of fire. However, so far they remained undetectable by analogue technology. Yet now an innovative device exists, enabling the detection of arc faults. Such arcs are often the spark that ignites fires and have been identified as preventable.The widespread use of Arc Fault Detection Devices is an important measure to significantly reduce the risk of fire. This simple-to-apply measure prevents the ignition of fires and thus minimises and even eliminates fire damages.
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