Patent · US Active

Low cost arc fault detection technique

US7400481B2 · kind B2 · utility

11Cited by
3References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 29, 2005
Grant dateJul 15, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 16, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH02H3/44
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Low cost apparatus and methods of detecting arc faults for better discriminating electrical events. The arc fault detection apparatus includes a current sensor, a di/dt input sense circuit, a dv/dt input sense circuit, and a processing unit. The current sensor monitors a power line current, and provides high frequency components of the power line current to the di/dt input sense circuit. The dv/dt input sense circuit monitors a power line voltage. The di/dt and dv/dt input sense circuits generate signals carrying information relating to changes in the power line current and the power line voltage, respectively. The processing unit analyzes these changes in the power line current and the power line voltage to discriminate detected electrical arcing events from nuisance loads with increased accuracy.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.