Eaton Intelligent Power Limited

Guenter Martinek

Werner Dichler

An arc fault detector includes: a first electric line; a sensor for monitoring an electric current or voltage spectrum in the first electric line and outputting a broadband measurement signal as a monitored signal; a minimum detection unit for detecting a minimum signal value of the monitored signal over a broadband measurement range as a detected minimum signal value; and a controller unit connected to an output of the minimum detection unit, the controller unit comparing the detected minimum signal value with a predefined arc pattern, and outputting a trigger signal on a trigger output if the detected minimum signal value matches the arc pattern.

Arc fault detector utilizing a broadband spectrum

An arc fault detector includes slew-rate-detection, envelope-step-detection, and first and second controller units. The slew-rate-detection-unit determines a slew rate of the electric current in the first electric line, comparing the slew rate with a threshold, and outputting a slew-rate-detection-signal on a second output when the determined slew rate is higher than the threshold. The envelope-step-detection-unit determines change of an envelope-value of a predefined frequency band of the broadband measurement signal within a predefined timespan, and outputs an envelope-step-detection-signal on a third output when the change is higher than a threshold change. The first controller-unit, connected to second and third outputs, outputs a second arc-detection-signal on a fourth output when it receives slew-rate and frequency-detection signals within a first detection-window. The second controller-unit, connected to first and fourth outputs, outputs a trigger signal when it receives first and second arc-detection-signals for at least a defined total time within a second detection-window.

Growing community of inventors

Vienna, Austria

Guenter Martinek