Electrical Fire Prevention and Overheating Control system

In practice, the most common cause of fire and damage to equipment in electrical panels are loose connections, especially those made on site. The connection may become loosened due to improper tightening torque during assembly, constant vibration, corrosion or mechanical wear of moving contacts, such as withdrawable contacts of a circuit breaker.

Another reason which can lead to a worsening of the contact condition is temperature cycling through the day. Heating at high current and cooling at low current causes expansion and contraction of contact and may lead to contact loss.

And even if an insufficiently tightened connection can still provide an acceptable level of mechanical reliability of the connection, it worsens electrical and thermal reliability:

1. As soon as the connection is loosened, its own resistance increases. This happens due to loosening the fit of contact surfaces (Bolt / Busbar, Cable lug / Busbar, etc.) This resistance causes the contact to heat up
2. Heating due to increased resistance contributes to the oxidation process (which happens faster at higher temperatures)
3. Oxidation covers the contact with an oxide film, and its resistance is much higher than for the base metal
4. The resulting thermal runaway leads to a complete failure of connection. As a result, such contact burns out or leads to an electric fire in the compartment

Usually fire starts with melting of cable insulation, which is the weakest point in terms of withstanding temperature. Depending on the material and thickness, generally there are 2 critical temperatures for cable insulation: 200 °C, when insulation to deteriorate and 280°C, when insulation material starts to melt and smoke. FIPRES works way below these temperatures, providing detection of overheating in a range up to 110 °C, which are abnormal temperatures for electrical equipment, but still months before any dangerous situation.

The main field of FIPRES application is electrical panels.

FIPRES can be installed in:
Low/medium voltage electrical panels:

• Switchgear cells
• Main Distribution boards (MDB)
• Sub Main Distribution Boards (SMDB)
• Power Factor Correction panels
• Motor control center panels (MCC)
• other types of panels.

Typical points that required the maximum of attention are:

• Circuit Breaker (CB) contacts (especially with withdrawable contacts)
• Incoming/outcoming cables connection
• Cable joints (incoming cables/cable feeders)
• Fuses contacts
• Disconnector contacts
• Capacitor banks.

Other points in particular cases could be:

• Current and voltage transformers
• Transportation joints
• Busbar-busbar connections.

One of the advantage of FIPRES comparing to devices with a similar purpose is the ease of installation even when it comes to retrofitting. It’s possible to equip all concerning points of equipment without compromises.