Recent emphasis on safety in the workplace and reduction of damage due
to fires has led to the introduction of new types of wire and cable w
hich are insulated with materials that contain no halogens and produce
less smoke and/or toxic emissions when burned. These wires and cables
have been available for general building wire for several gears, but
not as Type SIS wire, which is required by ANSI/IEEE standards for use
in switchgear equipments. Now Type SIS wire insulated with low smoke,
low emission, halogen-free material is available. To investigate the
performance of this wire under fire conditions, two identical equipmen
ts were built, one wired with standard SIS wire and one with low-emiss
ions SIS wire. Wires were deliberately ignited in each cubicle and the
results recorded. Measurements of the effects of emissions on the con
tact resistance of control devices were made, and the relative ease of
cleaning was checked. A comparison of the results shows that the low-
emissions wire did reduce the effects of the fire on both internal app
earance of the equipment and on the contact resistance of control devi
ces.