arc

Reference [13] reported that some AFCI products could not indicate series arcing condition in normal application case.

Current records of different loads from normal working to arcing are shown in Fig.

As mentioned before, an effective arc faults identification method for AFCI should be able to distinguish hazardous arcing from normal circuit conditions in residential electrical environment, i.e., the method uses the normal circuit information to find arc faults.

Many times an arcing condition can be seen as a luminous discharge caused by the ionization of air molecules called corona.

Dielectric breakdown causes a massive amount of leakage current to flow through a product's insulation while arcing usually produces momentary spikes in the nominal leakage current waveform.

An investigation of a specific safety agency standard provides us with a practical explanation of the difference between dielectric breakdown and arcing:

The char provides a path for the arc to spread to adjacent wires, creating a feeding frenzy of high-voltage arcing and fire that was described, even in the detached vernacular of the Navy's official reports, as "catastrophic." Eugene L.

Trans World Airlines reported 22 instances of wire fires or arcing on its fleet of 30 L-1011 jetliners between 1972 and 1981.