This paper deals with a review of the state-of-the-art performance investigations of green gas for grid (g3) gas, which is an emerging eco-friendly alternative insulation gas for sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) that will be used in gas-insulated power facilities for reducing environmental concerns. The required physical and chemical properties of insulation gas for high-voltage applications are discussed, including dielectric strength, arc-quenching capability, heat dissipation, boiling point, vapor pressure, compatibility, and environmental and safety requirements. Current studies and results on AC, DC, and lightning impulse breakdown voltage, as well as the partial discharge of g3 gas, are provided, which indicate an equivalent dielectric strength of g3 gas with SF₆ after a proper design change or an increase in gas pressure. The switching bus-transfer current test, temperature rise test, and liquefaction temperature calculation also verify the possibility of replacing SF₆ with g3 gas. In addition, the use of g3 gas significantly reduces theabovementioned environmental concerns in terms of global warming potential and atmosphere lifetime. In recent years, g3 gas-insulated power facilities, including switchgear, transmission line, circuit breaker, and transformer, have been commercially available in the electric power industry.

Detection and analysis of series arcs is significantly meaningful for preventing arc-caused electrical fires in advance. However, the improvement of arc detection sensitivity and the discrimination of arc conditions are still challenges when developing an arc fault detector. In this paper, arc signals in various loads with three major incomplete connection states were detected and further analyzed using the discrete wavelet transform. It was verified that the db13 was the optimal mother wavelet to analyze the arc pulses and the decomposed signals in the detail components of D5, D6, D7, and D8 were related with arc phenomena. Therefore, a band pass filter with a frequency from 2.4 to 39 kHz was designed, which can extract arc signals while eliminating the AC mains current and noise generated in loads. By investigating the arc signal energy as well as the arc pulse counts that were important parameters of arc occurrence, an arc diagnosis algorithm was developed based on LabVIEW program for electrical fire prevention.

An arc fault is an electrical breakdown of the insulating medium in an electrical system. When arc faults occur, they cause electrical fires with local sparks and temperatures of over 5000 °C. A series arc is generated in series with a load due to an incomplete connection between cords or a loose connection between a cord and terminal. However, it is hard to detect series arc faults with arc protection devices because the fault current flowing by series arc in the circuit is not higher than the load current. Especially in Korea, preventing electrical fires by series arc is rarely applied because there is no national standard for arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCI) and arc fault detection devices (AFDD). Therefore, many studies for reliable arc detection and analysis are still necessary to prevent electrical fires. In this study, phase analyses of series arc signals for low-voltage electrical devices such as heaters, computers, refrigerators, and air conditioners were conducted. The arc generator was fabricated according to UL 6199 and an optimal filter was designed to detect series arc signals without any attenuation. The phase of detected series arc signals was analyzed according to load types and finally a new algorithm was proposed based on the result of phase-resolved series arc (PRSA) analysis to identify types of loads.

In this paper, the fire risk of a single-phase induction motor under a locked-rotor condition is described. In general, motor failure occurs in the locked-rotor condition owing to poor rotation of the rotor. Large inrush current flows when a motor starts, which is approximately 2–15 times larger than the rated current. In a single-phase induction motor under the locked-rotor condition, a large current that corresponds to the inrush current flows continuously through the stator winding. Such an overcurrent rises the temperature inside the stator winding, and thus the insulating material may catch fire. In this study, the restrained operating condition of the single-phase induction motor was simulated. Further, the degree of the overcurrent and temperature rise in the stator winding was measured. The experimental results, confirmed that the overcurrent was seven times larger than the rated current and the fire commenced at a temperature of approximately 300 ℃ inside the stator winding.