Residential fires of electrical origin have been a major concern for a long time. A fire can be initiated by excessive current (due to an overload or a short circuit) or arcing current. Therefore, both the Canadian Electrical Code (CE Code) Part I and the National Electrical Code (NEC) require the installation of overcurrent protection devices (OCPDs) to detect and clear excessive current. Conversely, arcing current is too low for OCPDs to detect. It could take an electric arc minutes, days, weeks, months, or even years to initiate a fire. Therefore, a new solution was required for detecting those slowly developing arcs. Thus, arc-fault circuit-interrupters (AFCIs) were born. AFCIs are capable of detecting an arcing condition (while still developing) and de-energizing the circuit before the arcing circuit ignites.

中文翻译：

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电弧故障断路器的揭秘：第一部分：奥德赛的开始

长期以来，电气引起的住宅火灾一直是人们关注的主要问题。过大的电流（由于过载或短路）或电弧电流可能引发火灾。因此，加拿大电气规范（CE规范）第一部分和国家电气规范（NEC）都要求安装过流保护装置（OCPD）来检测和清除过大电流。相反，电弧电流太低，OCPD 无法检测到。电弧可能需要几分钟、几天、几周、几个月甚至几年的时间才能引发火灾。因此，需要一种新的解决方案来检测那些缓慢发展的电弧。因此，电弧故障断路器（AFCI）诞生了。 AFCI 能够检测电弧状况（仍在形成时）并在电弧电路点燃之前将电路断电。