2014 Fifth International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Engineering Applications
Simple Analysis of the Measurement Methods of Arc Fault
Cao Zhena, Liu Xiaopenga,Zhangzhib,Wang Qingcongb, Shi Chongb,Li Chunchic,
a
Ministry of Public Security Shenyang Fire Research Institution,Shenyang 110034, China
b
Shenyang Fire Control Bureau, Shenyang 110013, China
c
The Chinese People’s Armed Police Force Academy,Langfang 065000,China
caozhen@syfri.cn
Abstract—According to fire statistics in recent years, in terms
of both quantity and loss, electrical fire is the first in the
reasons of fire. It is found that arc fault is one of the main
reasons of electrical fire, which cause electrical fire. It has
seriously harmed the safety of public life and property. So the
study on arc fault particularly on the detection method for arc
fault is becoming increasingly important. This paper firstly
introduces the mechanism of arc fault, secondly the paper
describes the classification of arc fault, the current situation of
the detection method for arc fault. Finally the paper gives the
trends of the study on arc fault. On one had the research lay
the foundation to prevent the electrical fire caused by arc fault,
on the other hand it could provide basis for drafting or writing
relevant standard.
Keywords-Arc Fault; Arc Sight; Arc Sound
I. PREFACE
According to fire statistics in recent years, the frequency
of electrical fire has accounted for 27% of the total number
of fire, which is the leading reason for fire. Its loss has
reached 53% of total loss caused by fire. In the electrical fire,
fire caused by electrical short circuit has accounted for over
50%. There are two types of electrical short circuit: the first
one is direct connection between conductors, such as the
short circuit between phases, between phase and N circuit.
The point of short circuit is the metal short circuit melt down
at high temperature. It is called metal short circuit. Another
kind is the ground short circuit of energized conductor. It is
the arc short circuit (arc fault) based on the circuit of arc.
Previously, the current of short circuit is calculated by kA.
The core of metal circuit produces high temperature that
would lead to incandescence. The insulation has been largely
oxidized and burnt itself. The danger of fire is extremely
high. However, because of high short circuit current it
produces, the metal short circuit can make the breaker cut off
the power instantly, by which the fire can be avoided. In
terms of the latter one, the short circuit current is influenced
by impedance and the arc has lasted continuously. Local
temperature caused by arc can reach 3000～4000℃, which
will easily burn surrounding material to lead to a fire. But
the short circuit current caused by ground fault is relevantly
low; it fails to make the breaker cut off the power. Thus, the
danger of fire caused by arc fault is much larger than the one
of metal short circuit. Thus, we should pay attention to the
study on the detection principle and method of arc fault in
order to prevent electrical fire and thus effectively protect
the safety of public life and property.
978-1-4799-4261-9/14 $31.00 © 2014 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ISDEA.2014.203
II. MECHANISM OF ARC FAULT
There are many factors causing fault arc, the most
important is the following three factors:
A. Insulation Carbonization
Even in the AC 120V line, if carbonized path exists, it
may also cause sustained arcing. Facts prove that many ways
can lead to the formation of carbonized path. The simplest
method in the arc fault circuit interrupter (hereinafter
referred to as AFCI) standard test is to use two electrodes on
the insulating layer of cable, with a high voltage through the
electrodes, the arc can be formed directly on the surface of
the cable. According to arc fault circuit interrupter safety
standards UL1699, carbonized path in relevant sections, the
above method is being used. Another method combines
moisture on insulating surface and pollutant effect, so the
method is also called the “wet path” .The combined effects
of moisture and pollutant leading to leakage current in the
insulating surface which gradually forms the carbonized path.
Typical carbonized path fault arc is repetitive and
irregular but usually come into being by the following steps:
the initial current form a carbonized layer; continuous
current increase until the arc starts burning; burning arc
melts metal and releases the melt; once released from the
metal melt, the current will drop; current that takes
carbonized material as medium continuous flow in the
circuit until the current amplitude once again greatly
increased.
B. The air ionization caused by external factors
Although the intrinsic dielectric strength of air is very
high (typically 3MV/m), if the air is ionized, it will
decompose at lower energies. Two ways to ionized air is
pre-arcing and combustion. If a severe arc fault happens on
the power distribution bus, large amounts of ionized gas will
be emitted. These ionized gas will fly a certain distance, if
they encounter another line, it is easy to cause air
decomposition and leads to arc fault on the line. The
combustion would make the dielectric strength of air is
reduced to 0.11MV / m.
Arcing caused by the fire is the most common hazards at
the scene of the fire, and combustion would lead to
insulation carbonization, or air ionization, or both.
C. Short Circuit
Short circuit exists in two forms: ①metallic short circuit:
when the contact is between different potential conductors,
the thermal effect of short-circuit current would lead to high
temperature, and metal at the contact point is molten. If the
contraction of the melting metal results in a separation
between the contactor, and the failure point would
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disconnect, then short circuit disappears naturally, and
electrical hazard will not happen. If the two conductors was
melted and welded together tightly, contact impedance is
negligible, and the short-circuit current is several hundred
times the rated current or thousands of times, it is called
metallic short-circuit. Although metallic short circuit brings
larger fire hazard, short-circuit fire is completely avoidable
by the installation of electrical short-circuit protector and
effective maintenance following the specification. ② short
arc circuit: the situation is very different if the contact type
between the conductors is arc contact. Because of the poor
contact, the contact would not be melted and arc or spark
may burst out. Due to a larger impedance at failure point, the
current is not large, then short-circuit protector will not work.
Because the current is not large enough, over-current
protector can not trip timely, so that the arc persists. When
an arc appear , due to the high temperature, up to thousands
of degrees, the presence of combustible material around the
arc site would make a high risk of fire.
III. CLASSIFICATIONS OF ARC FAULT
Arc is a kind of electric discharging of gas ionization and
it is also one kind of plasma. From the microcosmic
perspective, the current in the arc is the outcome of
movement of electron and positive ion under the force of
electric field. The movement of electron constructs the main
part of current.
Based on the production principle of arc, it can be
divided into easy arc and bad arc. The easy arc occurs in the
plugging of electric appliance; and bad arc is also called arc
fault, which is mainly caused by the burn-in and damaged
electrical insulation of circuit and cable, atmospheric
breakdown from pollution and damp air or loose electronic
connection. According to the power of arc current, arc fault
can be divided into high-level arc and low-level arc.
According to the generation position of arc fault, it can be
divided into serious arc and parallel arc, and parallel arc can
be divided into ground arc and wire-wire arc, as it is shown
in figure 1, 2 and 3.
Load
Figure 1. Series Arc
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Load
Figure 2. Ground Arc
Load
Figure 3. Wire-wire Arc
When the atmospheric breakdown occurs frequently,
characters of arc are high temperature, low current and short
duration. When the arc discharges, it produces plenty of heat,
which can burn surrounding combustible and inflammable
products. It may cause fire or even explosion. For example,
according to Yearbook of Fire Statistics of China, the
frequency of electrical fire has occupied the leading
positions over other types of fire. Over 30% fire is caused by
the burn-in circuit or unreasonable arrangement of circuit of
the building. It has continuously increased on average 1%
per year. Over 6.6% of person who use plug board have felt
electric shock. FAA points out that electrical fault are the
key problem of numerous business plane accidents. The
military force also regards that electrical fault is the
important reason for safety problems and delay of planes.
Arc fault is one of the main reasons that cause these
electrical accidents. Traditional fuse protectors and electrical
breakers fail to meet the requirement of arc fault detection.
This is because the breaker is designed for the detection of
overloading arc. However, because the current of low-level
arc is low and even lower than rated current, the breaker will
not have any reflection while high-level arc has a big current,
but it lasts for a short time. While a traditional breaker fails
to perform protection, the arc has already been distinguished.
IV. CURRENT CONDITION OF ARC FAULT DETECTION
When arc fault occurs, the pressure of power grid will
decrease and the current will increase with arc light, arc
sound, heat and electromagnetic radiation. Currently, based
on above arc fault, both domestic and international scholars
have conducted some studies about arc detection.
A. Detection Method based on Arc Light and Arc Sound
In recent years, by resorting to the light effect of arc, arc
light detection and protection system has been developed
abroad, such as arc fault protection system used in low-
pressure switch cabinet from Moeller Company from
Germany, arc fault protection system of ARC Guard System
of ARCON ABB and VAMP system of Finland Vaasa
Company. The judgment of these systems is based on the arc
light and over-current caused by arc fault. These systems
provide a fast and save bus protection. This provides
effective solution for limiting the arc fault. However, these
detection devices also have their limitations. The sensors
used by them for arc detection have certain installation
positions, which are generally applied to internal part of
switch cabinet for arc fault protection. They are not suitable
for the device with a longer circuit.
The arc fault of switch cabinet is a very complex process
caused by various reasons. One of the key reasons is burn-in
insulation. The burn-in wire is a slow process. Some burn-in
wire may not cause arc fault at right. But it has the potential
for arc fault and it produces arc sound. The arc sound alarm
mechanism before the occurrence of arcing avoids its
occurrence and erroneous judgment. Before arcing, the arc
sound change obviously and the sound signal has certain
range of frequency band. Studies and analysis show that arc
light can be applied to detection of arc fault as the previous
symptoms of arc fault.
B. Detection Method based on Pressure Effect of Arc
When switch cabinet arc occurs, the electric energy is
transformed into thermal energy that increases temperature
of surrounding air and pressure. The gradual expansion of air
medium has further impact on cabinet. Siemens has taken
advantage of pressure effect of arc fault to develop a kind of
pressure switch system. Through collecting pressure signal
in arc fault, in the early moment of short circuit arc, it gives
out signal rapidly and cuts the fault circuit. It causes that the
time from pressure wave caused by short circuit current to
separating break of breaker is <100ms. The pressure
character has used to develop the detection system for arc
fault. Although it has good performance, the high-pressure
air caused by arc fault has released by pressure release
device. Thus, there is certain difference between pressure of
switch cabinet calculated in the model and the pressure of
real model. When the pressure is lower than required valve
of detection device, this system will cause miss judgment.
C. Detection Method based on Current and Voltage
When arc fault occurs, the current and voltage in the
circuit will change. In arc fault, current becomes zero for a
while which is called “square shoulder”, the difference of
positive and negative semi-circle region of current is large,
the amplitude of surrounding cycle changes a lot. In the zero
zone, the constant of voltage is very small. The change rate
of arc voltage is larger in zero zone and it reaches the peak
when current is over zero.
Based on the sudden increase and decrease of current in
arc fault, Delphi Research Institute has designed the FDC
module (Series/Parallel Arc Fault Discrimination Circuit)
that provides arc detection device to arc detection of
automotive system. The disadvantage of this device is that
when the switch is closed, the system requires normal
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change of loading. However, in fact, the terminal loading of
circuit often changes on many conditions. Either non-linear
loading or hot-plugging of loading can cause the mistaken
action of arc fault detection. R.Spyker has conducted studies
on DC series arc and found that the content of harmonic
wave of current increases a lot in the frequency range from
10kHz to 100kHz. The frequency domain of arc current has
illustrated the possibility of arc fault detection within the
frequency domain. Thus, James A.Momoh has introduced
Fourier synthesis into arc detection, which is to consider the
collected voltage and current values together in order to
obtain the Fourier synthesis of energy. This result can be
used as the basis for judgment of arc fault. However,
considering the loading property (high-frequency
interference is introduced to DC-DC) and quality of power,
they have introduced ANN (Artificial Neural Network),
which introduces the result of Fourier synthesis into neutral
network in order to avoid misjudgment. After training,
accurate results can be obtained. However, traditional FFT
transfer requires linear system and stable signal, but the
signal of arc fault is non-linear and random. Both domestic
and foreign scholars have introduced wavelet analysis into
arc fault. Based on high-resistance arc fault of Korean
154kV high-voltage transmission system, Korean scholars
have studied about the modification with wavelet.
Based on the voltage characters in arc fault, an electronic
arc fault detector is developed. First, 220 voltage is
transformed to amplification and smoothing. After filter
processes the voltage signal, it is transmitted to pulse former
in which the sudden incoming information of voltage has
become pulse. This pulse will have constant amplitude and
width through single short trigger, and then it will be
transmitted to integrator for integration and to comparator.
When the amplitude of integrator exceeds the setting value
of comparator, the circuit will start. After delay, it sends
tripping signals. The upstream breaker of arc fault separates
the break. The shortcoming of this electronic arc fault
detector is that when the detection of voltage signal of arc is
disturbed by power grid loading and other factors, the
misjudgment will occur.
V. STUDY TREND OF ARC FAULT DETECTION
A. Detection Method based on Combination of Multiple
Information and Judgments
Studies show that the arc fault has caused slight arc
sound signal. During arcing, the amplitude of short circuit
current will take large changes with the arc light. In the
reference, the oscillator signal of Duffing has based on the
judgment on arc sound, arc light and short circuit current. By
setting reasonable amplitude, the alarm system is founded. It
has further improved the reliability of arc fault detection.
This arc fault detection method based on combination of
multiple information and judgments is the important trend of
studies on arc fault detection method.
B. Detection method based on intellectual algorithm
For switch power, fluorescent lamp, dimming light and
so on with electrical loading during stable operation has
similar pressure and current characters with the one of low- [5] Wu Zhuoqi and Wangli. Overiew of Arc Fault Detection [J],
pressure series arc fault. In addition, the environmental Proceedings of 13th National Electrical Automation and Electric-
controlled System Annual Academic Meeting, 8-11 (in Chinese)
change, including climate and electronic noise, has often
[6] Malakondaiah Naidu, Thomas J Schoepf, Suresh Gopalakrishnan.
caused the change of collected signal of sensors that is close Arc Fault Detection Scheme for 42-V Automotive DC Networks
to the change of parameters of arc fault. What’s more, the Using Current Shunt[J],.IEEE Transactions on power electricals,
occurrence of arc fault has been influenced by many 2006, 21(3): 633–639
surrounding complex factors. Thus, the advanced and [7] Chul-Hwan Kim,Hyun Kim, Young-Hun Ko et al. A Novel Fault-
intellectual detection algorithm shall be introduced into Detection Technique of High-impedance Arcing Faults in
signal process of arc sound and arc light detectors. The Transmission Lines Using the Wavelet Transform[J],. IEEE
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intellectual detection algorithm has tried to apply the
multidisciplinary technology, including chaos theory, [8] Donald G. Kilroy, Wayne H. Oldenbury, AC Arc Fault Detection and
Protection[J],, USA,Application, US 2007/0133134 A1, 2007
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[9] LAN Huili,Zhang Rencheng,Current Research and Development
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C. Positioning of Arc Fault
Currently, most studies about the arc fault detection
focuses on the internal part of high- and low-voltage switch
cabinet which may cause arc fault easily. The application
scope has certain limitations. Thus, the integration with
wireless communication technology for the positioning
technology study of arc fault will be another significant
research direction of arc fault in the future.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The electrical safety accident caused by arc fault has
accounted for a large proportion and has been increased
gradually. It poses increasing threat to the lives of people
and their assets. In order to solve and prevent electrical
accidents caused by arc fault in residential building, the
study on the arc fault protection technology has enjoyed
necessary application background and extensive social
demand. It is closely related to the safety of domestic power,
lives and property safety. Both domestic and international
studies have received excellent outcomes in the low-voltage
arc fault detection technology, development and promotion
of application products and standard of products. USA has
occupied the leading position. Thus, it is necessary to
conduct a study on the principle of arc fault, analyze and to
learn from advanced international detection technology,
industry standard and technological specification. We should
accumulate achievements in the study and development of
core technology with proprietary intellectual property rights,
designing practical low-voltage arc fault detectors,
formulating product detection specification and inspection
procedures under domestic application background and
editing technical and specification standards.
REFERENCES.
[1] UL1699-2008, Arc-Fault Circuit-Interrupters, UL Standards
[2] Dong Aihua, Yang Yi and Fu Yongli, Overiew of Low-voltage Arc
Fault Detection[J], Low-voltage Apparatus, 2009(5). (in Chinese)
[3] Cai Bin, Chen Degui,Wu Rui, et al. Current Research Condition and
Trend of Arc Fault Detection Method inside Switch Cabinet [J],
High-voltage Technology, 2008, 34(3): 496-499. (in Chinese)
[4] Yang Jianhong, Zhang Rencheng and Fang Huaiying. Application of
Duffing Vibrator Signal Detection in Arc Fault Short Circuit
Protection [J], Journal on Automation of Electrical Power System,
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