Circuit Integrity Assessment of Fire-Resistant Cables

Abstract

In the electrical industry, fire accidents may happen due to overheating of electrical equipment, short circuit faults and any external source of fire. Polymeric Electrical Cables are prone to spread fire along the cable run as the insulation and sheathing materials are of flammable nature. Hence various flame retardants and low-smoke polymers are being used so that the flame spread and toxic gas release can be controlled. There are some special application cables called Fire Resistant cables which need to maintain the circuit integrity of the cable even during fire conditions. The construction of these fire-resistant cables requires fire-resistant insulation to achieve the fire-resistance property. They are such as Glass- Mica tape, Silicone Rubber, mineral insulation, metal insulation and fire retardant coating. There is various International and National standard assessing methods to assess these special cables. In this paper, the fire-resistant insulating materials and their performance during the assessment in achieving the required fire-resistant property are discussed.