ARC FAULT CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER AND METHOD OF PARALLEL AND SERIES ARC FAULT DETECTION
First Claim
1. An arc fault circuit interrupter comprising:
- separable contacts;
a neutral conductor;
an operating mechanism structured to open and close said separable contacts;
at least one current sensor structured to sense current flowing through said separable contacts and output a sensed current value; and
a processor comprising a first routine structured to provide parallel arc fault detection, a second routine structured to provide series arc fault detection, and a third routine structured to enable said first routine and disable said second routine when said sensed current value is greater than a predetermined value and to enable said second routine and disable said first routine when said sensed current value is less than said predetermined value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An arc fault circuit interrupter includes separable contacts, a neutral conductor, an operating mechanism structured to open and close the separable contacts, at least one current sensor structured to sense current flowing through the separable contacts and output a sensed current value; and a processor. The processor includes a first routine structured to provide parallel arc fault detection, a second routine structured to provide series arc fault detection, and a third routine structured to enable the first routine and disable the second routine for a predetermined time when the sensed current value is greater than a predetermined value and to enable the second routine and disable the first routine for the predetermined time when the sensed current value is less than the predetermined value.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. An arc fault circuit interrupter comprising:
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separable contacts; a neutral conductor; an operating mechanism structured to open and close said separable contacts; at least one current sensor structured to sense current flowing through said separable contacts and output a sensed current value; and a processor comprising a first routine structured to provide parallel arc fault detection, a second routine structured to provide series arc fault detection, and a third routine structured to enable said first routine and disable said second routine when said sensed current value is greater than a predetermined value and to enable said second routine and disable said first routine when said sensed current value is less than said predetermined value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An arc fault circuit interrupter for an alternating current power circuit including a plurality of half-cycles, said arc fault circuit interrupter comprising:
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separable contacts; an operating mechanism structured to open and close said separable contacts; at least one current sensor structured to sense current flowing through said separable contacts and output a sensed current value; a processor comprising a first routine structured to provide parallel arc fault detection, a second routine structured to provide series arc fault detection, and a third routine structured to enable said first routine and disable said second routine when said sensed current value is greater than a first predetermined value and to enable said second routine and disable said first routine when said sensed current value is less than said first predetermined value; a first band pass filter cooperating with one of said at least one current sensor to output a first pass band having a first range of frequencies of said sensed current; a second band pass filter cooperating with one of said at least one current sensor to output a second pass band having a second range of frequencies of said sensed current, said second range of frequencies not overlapping and being greater than said first range of frequencies; a first peak detector cooperating with said first band pass filter to detect a plurality of first peak current values from said first pass band; a second peak detector cooperating with said second band pass filter to detect a plurality of second peak current values from said second pass band; a first envelope detector cooperating with said first band pass filter to detect a plurality of first occurrences from said first pass band being within a first predetermined range of magnitudes; a second envelope detector cooperating with said second band pass filter to detect a plurality of second occurrences from said second pass band being within a second predetermined range of magnitudes; and a counter structured to count said first and second occurrences, wherein said second routine is further structured to disable said series arc detection when the sensed current is greater than a second predetermined value, wherein said processor cooperates with said counter to determine a plurality of counts from said counter for said half-cycles, wherein said processor further cooperates with said first and second peak detectors to determine a plurality of tallies responsive to one of said first peak current values exceeding a first threshold for said half-cycles or one of said second peak current values exceeding a second threshold for said half-cycles, wherein said processor is structured to determine presence of series arcing in said power circuit from;
(1) said sensed current being less than said second predetermined value for at least a predetermined time, (2) the tally for a current one of said half-cycles being not zero, and (3) the count of said counter for the current one of said half-cycles being different than the count of said counter for an immediately previous one of said half-cycles of like polarity by at least a third predetermined value, andwherein said processor is further structured to increase a series chaos accumulator responsive to said presence of series arcing. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of detecting parallel arc faults or series arc faults for an alternating current power circuit, said method comprising:
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sensing current flowing through said alternating current power circuit and outputting a sensed current value; providing parallel arc fault detection; providing series arc fault detection; enabling said parallel arc fault detection and disabling said series arc fault detection for a predetermined time when said sensed current value is greater than a predetermined value; and otherwise, enabling said series arc fault detection and disabling said parallel arc fault detection for a predetermined time when said sensed current value is less than said predetermined value. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification