A mid-sized metal fabrication company in Ohio, USA, with 450 employees, supplies precision components to automotive and appliance OEMs. The plant operates 12 production lines, including CNC machining, robotic welding, and powder coating. The facility runs 24/7 in a dusty, humid environment, and on-time delivery is a contractual obligation.
The plant's electrical infrastructure had aged . Over the previous 18 months, two small fires had occurred in cable trays and junction boxes, forcing evacuations and causing equipment damage. Standard MCBs did not trip because the fault amperage remained below the overload threshold. Series arc faults, caused by loose connections and damaged insulation, were undetectable to conventional breakers.
False trips were another headache. Robotic welders and large CNC machines generated electrical noise that caused nuisance tripping of ordinary circuit breakers, stopping production lines at random intervals. These unplanned stops, combined with fire damage, cost an estimated $210,000 per year in lost output, repairs, and insurance premiums.
The plant assessed three options: a full power monitoring system, a complete rewiring of the facility, or deploying arc fault detection devices (AFDDs). The monitoring system would require $480,000 in upfront investment plus recurring subscription fees. Rewiring meant 15 weeks of partial shutdowns, which the business could not afford.
The engineering team chosen singi-cable AFDDs because the devices combine arc fault detection with overamperage and short-circuit protection in a single unit. The AFDDs comply with IEC 62606, and offer adjustable sensitivity thresholds that can be tuned to ignore normal transients from welding equipment. At a unit cost far below the alternative solutions, the AFDDs fit into the existing distribution boards, requiring minimal changes to the electrical layout.
The project spanned six weeks. A pilot installation on two production lines with the highest false-trip rates was completed in the first week. The plant's electricians received a one-day training on AFDD wiring and configuration. After two weeks of validation, the remaining ten lines were retrofitted.
A significant challenge was nuisance tripping from welding transients. By logging every trip event, the team identified that sensitivity level 2 was too aggressive for lines with large servo drives. Using the device's configuration tool, they set individual sensitivity values per line, reducing false trips to near zero. During installation, the team also discovered four loose connections and eight damaged cable jackets, all of which were repaired on the spot.
Six months after full deployment, the results were clear:
"The singi-cable AFDDs addressed the arc fault problems that our standard breakers couldn't detect. We stopped guessing which line would trip next and eliminated a serious fire risk," said the plant's electrical maintenance manager.
Three factors made this deployment successful. First, the pilot phase allowed the team to test and calibrate the AFDDs before a full rollout. Second, using the data logging function to fine-tune sensitivity per line prevented nuisance trips from becoming a new problem. Third, training in-house electricians during installation built long-term maintenance capability.
If the plant reattempted this project, the maintenance manager noted they would involve operations supervisors earlier to schedule installations production shifts. They also recommended pairing AFDDs with a periodic thermographic inspection to catch thermal anomalies that arc-fault detection may not cover.
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