Arc Discharge–Induced Ignition of Combustibles Placed on a Damaged AC Power Supply Cord

One of the major causes of unintentional electrical fires is short circuit of an electrically and/or mechanically damaged alternating power supply cord. Detecting of such an event and interrupting the power supply may be beyond the capability of a conventional electro-mechanical circuit breaker. A l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2020-02, Vol.13 (3), p.681
Main Authors: Takenaka, Kiyoto, Ishikawa, Yusuke, Mizuno, Yukio, Lin, Wenyi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ac power supply cord
arc
Breakage
breakage of intact element conductors
Cables
Circuit breakers
Conductors
Earthquakes
Electric arcs
Electric power supplies
Electrical fires
Fire damage
Fire prevention
Flammability
Ignition
ignition of combustibles
Interrupters
Power supply
Scientific papers
short circuit
Short circuits
Waveforms
Wavelet transforms
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Summary:One of the major causes of unintentional electrical fires is short circuit of an electrically and/or mechanically damaged alternating power supply cord. Detecting of such an event and interrupting the power supply may be beyond the capability of a conventional electro-mechanical circuit breaker. A lot of research papers have been published related to arc fault of wiring and its detection method. Furthermore, arc fault circuit interrupters have been put into practical use. The objective of the present paper is to understand fault of damaged power supply cord under two selected situations observed in practical use or considered suitable to understand fire ignition. Using two kinds of samples similar to but different from samples prescribed in UL1699 standard, the ignition mechanism of combustibles is discussed based on the results of laboratory experiments. The findings herein underscore the important role of the arc in the ignition of combustibles that are placed on the damaged part of a power supply cord, which is normally followed by a short circuit of broken element conductors or breakage of intact element conductors. Moreover, a possible arc detection feature in the two situations is discussed based on a distorted voltage waveform.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en13030681