Why Use an AFDD?

In the United Kingdom, faulty domestic appliances and leads caused 19,300 accidental fires. Fires of this sort often spring from electric arcs, overheating, loose cable, broken cables, deterioration of cable isolation, to name a few. Unfortunately, all these electrical faults are challenging to detect, and regular circuit breakers, fuses and residual current devices – may not always notice or respond to the minor arc faults that have the potential to cause a fire. The good news is, with the installation of an Arc Fault Detection Device (AFDD), these types of electric fires can be avoided.

What is an AFDD?

An Arc Fault Detection Device (AFDD) at its core is a circuit protection device. It’s like miniature circuit breakers (MCB) and residual current devices (RCD’s) but provides a different kind of protection. AFDD’s are microcomputers that sit with or combined with an overcurrent protective device. They made this device to look for the signature of an electrical arc (or spark).

 

How Does it Work?

The AFDD constantly monitors and analyses patterns in electrical current and voltage waveforms. It watches for random, non-predictable yet persistent patterns that indicate a dangerous arc. It uses electronic technology and an algorithm to analyse the signature of the waveform of an arc, so it detects the difference between normal arcing and arcing faults. You can use an AFDD with a circuit breaker or an RCBO ( residual-current circuit breaker with overload protection). It can also have its switching function.

AFDD can analyse abnormal arc forms through:

• The signature of the arc

• Duration of the arc. As an example, very short durations are characteristic when you turn a switch on or off.