Arc fault detector with circuit interrupter
First Claim
1. A circuit interrupting device capable of being electrically connected to an electrical wiring system between line side phase and neutral conductors and load side phase and neutral conductors, the device comprising:
- switching means for disconnecting a source of electrical power between at least the line side phase conductor to the load side phase conductor;
trigger circuit means for causing said switching means to disconnect the source of electrical power to the load side phase conductor; and
arc fault detecting means for detecting in said electrical wiring system arc faults occurring in a high frequency range and arc faults occurring in an AC line frequency range, and for generating a trigger signal in response to the occurrence of an arc fault in at least one of said high frequency range and said AC line frequency range that activates said trigger circuit means.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) device functions to provide protection from potentially dangerous arc faults. The arc fault detector can be used stand alone or in combination with circuit interrupting devices such as IDCIs and ALCIs. The AFCI device detects both AC line frequencies and high frequencies associated with arcing. Both average and instantaneous values of both AC line frequency and high frequency arcing signals are processed to generate an arc fault signal. The trip mechanism of the device trips on the occurrence of either an arc fault or a ground fault. The device allows the arc detector to differentiate between destructive high level arcing and low level arcing such as generated by typical household appliances and equipment. This serves to decrease the occurrence of false tripping. The device also includes a timer circuit, which permits the user to temporarily disable the arc detector, and includes communication means to permit the device to communicate the occurrence and location of the arc fault to a centralized monitoring station.
-
Citations
55 Claims
-
1. A circuit interrupting device capable of being electrically connected to an electrical wiring system between line side phase and neutral conductors and load side phase and neutral conductors, the device comprising:
-
switching means for disconnecting a source of electrical power between at least the line side phase conductor to the load side phase conductor; trigger circuit means for causing said switching means to disconnect the source of electrical power to the load side phase conductor; and arc fault detecting means for detecting in said electrical wiring system arc faults occurring in a high frequency range and arc faults occurring in an AC line frequency range, and for generating a trigger signal in response to the occurrence of an arc fault in at least one of said high frequency range and said AC line frequency range that activates said trigger circuit means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A circuit interrupting device capable of being electrically connected to an electrical wiring system between line side phase and neutral conductors and load side phase and neutral conductors, the device comprising:
-
a switch capable of disconnecting a source of electrical power between at least the line side phase conductor and the load side phase conductor; a trigger circuit that causes said switch to disconnect the source of electrical power to the load side phase conductor; an arc fault detector operatively associated with at least one of the phase and neutral conductors of the electrical wiring system to sense current flowing through the device, said arc fault detector being capable of generating peak and average high frequency signals and peak and average AC line frequency signals from the sensed current, and capable of detecting arc faults in said AC high frequency and AC line frequency signals and generating a trigger signal in response to at least one of said peak high frequency signal, said average high frequency signal, said peak AC line frequency signal and said average AC line frequency signal, that activates said trigger circuit. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
35. An arc fault circuit interrupter device capable of being electrically connected to an electrical wiring system between line side phase and neutral conductors and load side phase and neutral conductors, said device comprising:
-
a switch connected between at least said line side phase conductor and said load side phase conductor; a trigger circuit operatively connected to said switch such that activation of said trigger circuit causes said switch to disconnect a source of electrical power to the load side phase conductor; and an arc fault detector capable of detecting in said electrical wiring system arc faults occurring in a high frequency range and arc faults occurring in an AC line frequency range, said arc fault detector responding to the detection of an arc fault in at least one of said high frequency range and said AC line frequency range by generating a trigger signal that causes said trigger circuit to activate said switch. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
-
-
51. A method for detecting arc faults using a circuit interrupting device comprising:
-
sensing current flowing through the device; generating a high frequency signal corresponding to a level of high frequency current flowing through the device; generating an AC line frequency signal corresponding to a level of AC line frequency current flowing through the device; generating an arc fault trigger signal in response to at least one of a detected arc fault within said high frequency signal and a detected arc fault within said AC line frequency signal; and disconnecting a source of electrical power to a load side of the device in response to said arc fault trigger signal. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55)
-
Specification