Evaluation over current protection under parallel arcing short circuit in low voltage distribution network

Single line short circuit to ground for low voltage network is produce high current with electric arc. Generally, in house or public facility installation, this fault is protected by fuse or miniature circuit breaker (MCB). However, some fault case is not detected by protection device due to very short duration, even though arcing still generated. This case is one of the common root cause fire disasters and defined as Parallel Arc Fault (PAF). PAF is simulated in laboratory by short circuit between stranded cable filaments. The number of filaments that short-circuited varied. During experiments, parameters observed were peak current value, spike duration, and circuit breaker response. Statistical analysis and artificial neural networks (ANN) are used for analysis and evaluate the behaviour of low voltage PAF. The analysis shows that ANN-based detection system is successfully classified into case that protection system fails to work and able to work.