Characterization of arc for domestic electrical system

Abstract

Undesired arcing in domestic electrical system can be caused by worn or broken insulator, loose connections, or static electricity. The arc heat energy is a fire hazard. In electrical equipment, an arc with enough energy can melt insulator or even cause fire. The present protection system in Malaysia focus on short circuit and leakage current. The objective of the study is to characterize the arc voltage, current and frequency under various load types and short circuit. The arc through loads such as pure resistor, inductor, iron and fan is observed. Intentional arcs from a few appliances such as arc welding set is also included in this study to identify the difference from unintentional arcs. Present arc detection technique (through AFCI) includes the constant monitoring of voltage and current. Unintentional arc is identified when a few conditions are met through some signal processing. There are three types of arc which are series arc, parallel arc and live to ground arc. This study will measure the arc characteristics with different loads in series arc only because parallel arc will not affected by load then records of the current and voltage waveforms via a digital storage oscilloscope. As expected, with various load produce difference arc profile. This arc profile will further help the design of a low-cost arc detector so that it does not require signal processing. It will help increase the quality of the electrical protection system in Malaysia and reduce the cost of AFCI.