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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device

Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device
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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 1

Eaton - AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device www.eaton.eu Eaton - AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device www.eaton.eu Guidance to the world of standards IEC 60364 Low voltage electrical installations IEC 60364-4-42:2014-11 Protection against thermal effects Powering Business Worldwide

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 2

Help! Fire! Cause of ﬁre: faulty cable Fire in a joiner‘s workshop Blansingen, DE - The cause of the ﬁre at the joinery in the town centre of Blansingen on Sunday evening has been clariﬁed for the police: an electrical fault was the cause of the ﬁre. “It is highly likely that the cause was a technical fault in live cables“ reported the police. The ﬁre expert on-site did not give indications of any , other causes. As reported, the ﬁre broke out at around 5.30pm last Sunday in the building. A man had to be treated by the emergency services because of suspected smoke inhalation. Around 60...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 3

Ofﬁce tower caught ﬁre Skyscraper collapsed after blaze Madrid, ES - On a Saturday around midnight, a ﬁre was detected on the 21st ﬂoor. The ﬁre spread rapidly throughout the entire building leading to the collapse of the outermost steel parts of the upper ﬂoors. Fireﬁghters needed almost 24 hours to extinguish it. While seven ﬁreﬁghters were injured fortunately nobody was killed in the ﬁre, which was arguably the worst ﬁre in Madrid‘s history. The city council of Madrid covered the cost of demolishing the remains of the building, thought to be approximately € 22M ($ 32.5M). A new tower...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 4

The task: reducing the risk of ﬁre “Fire and water, they are good servants, but bad masters. “ Roger L ‘Estrange Even today, ﬁre poses a great threat to people and their belongings. Fortunately, the consequent use of technical aids can reduce the risk of ﬁre and its effects. Thank goodness for smoke detectors A good example of successful risk mitigation is the increased use of smoke detectors, which has reduced the number of annual deaths by ﬁre in Germany over the past 15 years from over 800 to around 400 victims. Smoke detectors enable people in dangerous areas to recognise the danger...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 5

Cause of ﬁre: electric current How can the risk of electrically ignited ﬁres be reduced? To answer this question, it helps to look at the statistics: The majority of avoidable ﬁres are electrically ignited. At this point, a number of technical measures using automatic disconnection are in force, which have proved their effectiveness: Cause of ﬁre: current too high • A circuit breaker (MCB) recognises faults whereby a critical threshold value for current is exceeded. Consequently it can prevent the thermical destruction of parts of the installation caused by, for example, short circuits or...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 6

Lightnings can cause severe damage. Even small arc faults, micro-lightnings, can ultimately lead to large ﬁres and devastating damage. Protection against micro-lightnings Severe weather with lightning and rolling thunder makes people uneasy for a good reason – it is dangerous. If these electrical charges come into contact with combustible materials, they can cause ﬁres and severe damage. The most important safety rule when storms occur is as follows: Seek protection! However, it is not just the large lightnings that cause considerable damage. Even small lightnings, so-called arc faults,...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 7

Comprehensive protection to lower ﬁre hazards Complete protection Now, there is ﬁnally a protective device that can recognise these micro-lightnings by “listening in“ to the wire. Unlike short circuits and earth faults, under arc fault conditions the fault current equals the normal operating current, which makes this detection not as easy, and requires something special in the way of technical ﬁnesse. Of course, arc fault detection alone cannot protect against all hazards such as short circuits, overcurrent and earth faults. Therefore, it is wise to combine arc detection with circuit...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 8

Changes in the installation standard What changes are there in IEC 60364-4-42 and since when has this change existed? In comparison with the edition from 2010, in Amendment 1 of 60364-4-42 signiﬁcant changes were made in November 2014. These are, amongst others: a) inclusion of additional requirements for automatic disconnection in cases of dangerous arcs with arc fault detection devices (AFDDs); b) inclusion of an informative Appendix A for arc fault detection devices (AFDDs). These changes have been effective since 13th November 2014. What are the new requirements? Arc Fault Detection...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 9

Was the change to the standard unexpected? The approach to apply and recommend AFDDs with respect to IEC 60364-4-42 was not unexpected. Up to that time, no protective device being able to detect and effectively disconnect serial arc faults was identiﬁed in IEC 60364, i.e. no device having the capability to signiﬁcantly lower the risk of electrically ignited ﬁre hazards was mentioned. Although the AFDD product standard was publication of in 2013 and ﬁrst products were available since 2012, the 2014 released IEC 60364 series is the ﬁrst standard for low voltage electric installation which...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 10

Should an arc fault detection device (AFDD) be used for protection? This question can be answered after some details are clariﬁed … Will the circuitry be a new single phase ﬁnal circuit? Will the circuit be subject to substantial modiﬁcations? Is an update to grant state-of-the-art safety desired? Are locations supplied where irreplacable goods (assets and buildings with signiﬁcant value) are endagered? Are the circuits installed in locations with combustible constructional materials (e.g. wooden structures)? Will the installation supply public or private premises, workplaces or ofﬁces?...

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Eaton – AFDD+ - Electric Fire Protective Device - 11

Our recommendation: precautionary use of an arc fault detection device (AFDD) Does the installation supply premises with sleeping accommodations? Is the installation part of a location with ﬁre propagating structures (for example high-rise buildings or even skyscrapers)? Based on standards, there is no clear recommendation for use of an AFDD. The circuit ist not protected by state-of-the-art measures. NO In the event of damage caused by electrically ignited ﬁres, responsibility has to be taken by someone. Are you conﬁdent about your decision? If a ﬁre surprises sleeping individuals, the...

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